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THE 

NEW 
IDEA 



Designed as an In- 
troduction to True 
Life 



<By 

JOHN W. GAINES 



THE NEW IDEA 



DESIGNED AS AN INTRODUCTION TO 
TRUE LIFE 



BY 
JOHN W. GAINES. 






s LIBRARY of CONGRESS 

!Two CoDies Received 
JUN 4 \mt 

[/Tr.Copyrarfrt Entry 
I CUSS A XXc/, No. 
I COPY ti. y 



Copyright, 1907 
By JOHN WESLEY GAINES. 



PREFACE. 



Desiring to be of some humble service to his 
fellow man, and feeling within himself that the new 
ideas herein expressed may contribute some feeble 
aid to the common effort to eradicate the fables, 
myths and false traditions which have long distracted 
human advancement; and deeming this to be of high 
concern to present and future generations, the writer 
dedicates, to the human race, the following pages. 



(Smnmmt Butto* 



WORK. 



The world is a workshop, and there is no room for 
idlers. Work is noble, glorious, and beautiful; and 
the most patient, diligent, and true workers are the 
noblest men. Work is the foundation of all mate- 
rial progress, and upon it is founded all of man's 
higher well being. All kinds of honest labor are 
respectable, and no disgrace attaches to the worker. 
The disgrace is in not working, or in failing to be 
employed in some good and useful occupation. 

All idlers, including voluntary knights of the 
road, do no good in the world, either for themselves 
or others. They are a sort of moral pest or social 
plague, and they always add something to the sum 
total of crime and suffering in the world. They are 
consumers only, and the world may well keep its 
eye upon them. They are not good citizens, and the 
world would be a thousand times benefited if some 
just and reasonable means could be devised to 



8 The New Idea 

capture the whole army and land them all safely 
together upon some friendly island. Either this or 
discover some fair, equitable, and reasonable means 
of inducing them to go to work where they are. 



THE HOME. 

The home, being the unit or the foundation of 
government, is of first importance at all times. It 
thus appears that man's duty does not end with 
being a faithful worker. A home is to be secured, 
furnished, beautified, and accommodated with 
modern conveniences. And this demands that some 
portion of the income be saved, for the home cannot 
be dispensed with, and it can not be obtained with- 
out mone}^. The people who have homes, not only 
get more out of life and do more good in the world, 
but they are, at all times and in all places, the 
most desirable and substantial citizens. Then, a 
well arranged, and properly equipped home, is one 
of the first things in order, and no excuse will 
suffice for a failure to provide one. 



The New Idea 9 

MARRIAGE. 

Marriage is the most exalted of the world's 
civil contracts. The contracting parties become life 
partners, and it is best for all interests that the 
union thus formed be and remain until severed by 
the grim reaper. Between the contracting parties, 
the rights and duties are common, and the interests 
equal. Each one is mindful and considerate of the 
rights, interests, and feelings of the other, and at 
all times holds them in strict regard. Both of them 
are industrious, patient, and diligent in their efforts 
to promote the common welfare. Each is considerate 
in dealing with the weakness of the other. The 
children are carefully protected, trained and edu- 
cated. Each child is given a thorough training in 
some good and useful occupation. Each child is 
given a complete understanding of his own nature, 
his duty to himself, and his duty to his fellow man, 
and his relation and duty to the Creator. Each 
child is given a thorough schooling in the principles 
of kindness and courtesy, and is instructed that they 
should be extended to all men. It thus appears that 
the home is the sweetest and most beautiful place in 
the world. All human happiness depends upon it, 
and no man would destroy it. Everything in the 



10 The New Idea 

home reaches the very highest point of purity and 
beauty, and makes it the earthly heaven. 



EDUCATION. 

Education is the beacon light by means of which 
we avoid the breakers and shoals of time. It con- 
stitutes the road and the way to the mountain top, 
from whose lofty eminence one may become the 
spectator of all that has been and much that is to 
come. It is to the mind what the eye is to the body. 
And both the blind man and the ignorant are equally 
the common sport of the winds and the waves of 
fortune. Knowledge blesses all who secure it, and 
ignorance destroys all who remain in it. 



IGNORANCE. 

Ignorance is day without the sun, the universe 
without the law of gravitation, or the social con- 
dition without law or order. It constitutes the chief 
burden of the world. It is the thoroughfare of all 
crime, and the chief source of all human weakness. 



The New Idea 11 

Through all past ages, it has been the chief enemy 
of man's progress, welfare, and happiness, and it 
still remains his chief stumbling-block. 



BOOKS, 

Good books are the best and truest friends that a 
man can have. They never disappoint or deceive 
him, they are always open and expressive. They 
contain the collected wisdom of former ages, and 
they improve, develop and make better all who read 
them. Happy is the lot of him who is a lover of 
good books. They are the very best associates, and 
the most desirable of all companions. 

Those who have no regard for good books miss 
all that is substantial, best, and most worthy in life. 
Because he who has no concern about good literature, 
has also little regard for the way which such liter- 
ature points out. 



PERFECT LOVE. 

Than perfect love, throughout the universe, we 
know nothing that is more beautiful, desirable or 



12 The New Idea 

worthy of contemplation. Like a clear and pure 
spring of water, it is a perpetual source of benefit 
and happiness to all who know it. AH who drink 
of it are made purer, brighter, and better, and are 
aided and made stronger in the performance of all 
true and noble duties. It sweetens and softens the 
nature and disposition of all who come in contact 
with it. The heart and mind grow stronger and 
nobler in its contemplation. The man who does not 
know and understand the principles of true and 
perfect love has no value for substantial good, and 
is in no position to be of benefit or use in the great 
work of human betterment. The men, whose beings 
are saturated with these principles, are the ones who 
are the chief benefactors of the human race. 



HATE. 

Hate, through all former ages, has been the chief 
guest at all saturnalias of hitman suffering. It 
destroys him who hates, and injures him who is 
hated. Hate and ignorance are bedfellows, and boon 
companions. And the two combined constitute the 
cause of all human suffering. No man, who hate^ 
can be either happy or truly prosperous. The world 



The New Idea 13 

is growing better, knowledge and perfect love are 
superceding hate and ignorance, and in due time 
man will attain to true happiness and well-being. 



COURTESY. 

Courtesy is the sweetest rose in all of the garden 
of good-will. It blesses and sweetens both him who 
gives it and him who receives it. It is an eternal 
fountain and source of joy, life and light, and 
elevates al] who come within the scope of its 
influence. 

"flow sweet and gracious even in common speech, 
Is that fine sense which men call courtesy. 
Wholesome as air, and genial as the light, 
Welcome in every clime as breath of flowers. 
It transmutes aliens into trusted friends, 
And gives its owner passport 'round the glob§." 



LAUGHTER AND GOOD CHEER. 

Somewhat of laughter and good cheer makes the 
mind brighter, clearer and stronger, and the soul 



14 The New Idea 

larger, purer, and nobler. It were well that all spend 
a little time laughing. The sour, sullen, cross man, 
who never laughs, is not the best or most desirable 
companion. The man, who is so absorbed in affairs 
and business, that nothing can amuse him, is not 
only an undesirable associate, but he also loses many 
of the sweets of life. The men, who are cheerful, 
and who laugh occasionally, are always scattering 
sunshine among their fellows, and they do a thousand 
times more good than the sour men who never 
laugh. 



WORRYING. 

Apparently things do not always proceed just as 
they should, but it does not appear that any advant- 
age is to be gained by worrying about them. It 
seems that he, who worries, is the more likely to 
mis^ the object, or suffer the loss of the very subject 
of his worry, than if he had not worried at all. 
There being something in worrying, which not only 
tends to destroy the man who worries, but also tends 
to bring upon him, more swiftly, the very detriment 
about which he worries. It appears that the just 
and proper thing to do, when things do not turn out 



The New Idea 15 

just right, is to look for a remedy. And if one can 
be found, then apply it, and if no remedy can be 
found, then proceed to some other useful business. 
The man, being upright and honest in all of his 
dealings, and making at all times a reasonable effort 
to do his full, just, proper and reasonable duty as a 
man, has no cause for worrying at any course affairs 
may take. With such a man all is well at all times 
without regard to wind or tide or the chances or 
changes of fickle fortune. 



(gmwrmtmtL 



A government is a voluntary association of people, 
who unite for the benefit, welfare and common good 
of all, who make their own laws, and regulate their 
affairs independently of all other nations and govern- 
ments. 



FORMATION OF GOVERNMENTS. 

The law of necessity is the author of all 
human governments. People, finding their individual 
strength insufficient to cope with the hard conditions 
of the natural state, unite, by mutual consent, for 
their mutual benefit and common protection. 



PURPOSE OF GOVERNMENT. 

The chief purpose, and the highest duty of all 
governments, is to distribute equal and exact justice 
to all of its citizens. This also constitutes the most 



sublime function of all governments. 



18 The New Idea 

PERPETUITY OF GOVERNMENTS. 

History is conclusive proof that injustice is 
destructive both of individuals and governments, 
and that no government can be perpetual without 
being just. The ghosts of buried governments tell 
of injustice done in former days, and inform the 
nations of all future ages that their perpetuity 
depends upon their pursuing the principles of original 
justice. 



POWERS OF GOVERNMENT. 

Governments are formed and supported by the peo- 
ple, they have such powers as are given them by those 
who form them, and no other. The members of a 
government surrender to such government the powers 
and rights of correcting wrongs, and redressing griev- 
ances, and they impose upon it the duty of consulting 
the common interest and promoting the general wel- 
fare. Thus the government has the power and the 
right to make such reasonable rules as may conserve 
the interests and increase the prosperity of all of 
its members. 



The New Idea 19 

DUTY OF THE CITIZEN TO THE 
GOVERNMENT. 

By virtue of his original contract, each citizen it 
bound to be loyal to his government. Each member, 
by virtue of the representative system, is a part of 
each branch of his government. He helps to make, 
adjudicate, and execute all laws of his government. 
The citizen therefore has no right to complain at 
the making, adjudication or the execution of any 
law. Each is a party to the whole transaction, and 
all laws should be obeyed without qualification. In 
all governments, the just interest of one is the just 
interest of all, and the interest of all is best conserved 
by loyalty to the cardinal principle of all governments. 
Which is the meting out of equal and exact justice to 
all men. Then each citizen by facilitating the govern- 
ment in the performance of its chief function, facil- 
itates his own interests and extends a common benefit 
to all of his fellow-citizens. The principle, however, 
which underlies all of this, is one which far surpasses 
all selfish interests. Tho the selfish interest is well, 
because much good issues as the result of it, altho 
it be not the ideal criterion of good. 



20 The New Idea 

THE RIGHT OF GOVERNMENT TO IN- 
FLICT PUNISHMENT FOR VIOLA- 
TIONS OF ITS RULES OF 
CONDUCT. 

The right of government to make reasonable rules 
for the guidance and protection of its citizens, and to 
inflict reasonable punishment upon those who may 
violate those rules, is admitted on all sides. But 
just how far or to what extent such punishment 
should be or could justly be carried, has long been a 
much discussed question. In the unlettered state, 
man had only the right to administer such reasonable 
punishment as was necessary to conserve himself and 
his own, and in entering into the social compact, 
having no other rights or powers of inflicting punish- 
ment, he could accord no other to the general govern- 
ment. But what constitutes reasonable punishment ? 
It appears that reasonable punishment would consist 
in placing such restraint upon the convict as would 
be reasonably necessary to protect the interests and 
promote the welfare of the state, and at the same 
time cast no more injury or degradation upon the 
convict than possible. Under this rule, the convict 
being safely in custody, he is placed in a reform 
school, which is surrounded by strict but kind, pure, 
and elevating conditions. He is sent there for the 



The New Idea 21 

violation of some law, and for an indefinite period 
of time. His term of imprisonment being qualified 
by his moral reformation only. With mingled strict- 
ness and kindness, he is forced to be decent in all 
things, to work six hours and study eight hours 
during each twenty-four. He is provided with the 
very best instruments for his work, and the very best 
books for his school work. He is forced to learn a 
good and useful trade, and is given the advantage 
of the very best lectures. He is dealt with kindly 
and patiently, and is continuously encouraged in the 
effort to improve himself. When under this treat- 
ment he evidences that he is prepared to assume 
the position of a freeman, and a good, upright and 
useful citizen, he is given his liberty, free of all 
degrading disfranchisements. And if he came, to 
the reformatory institute, penniless, he is given a 
few dollars to aid him until he can get on his feet. 
Those who show no desire or disposition to reform 
are thus restrained until such disposition appears 
or during the course of their natural lives. It 
rule of nature, and under its operation, in the course 
appears that this course is founded directly upon the 
of time, there would be no convicts at all. 



22 The New Idea 

THE WORLD'S PRESENT MODE OF 
PUNISHMENT. 

The idea that obtains in the laws of the govern- 
ments of most nations, "That it is no part of the 
purpose of the law to reform persons convicted of 
violating the law, that the only purpose is the pro- 
tection of the government and the punishment of 
the convict," is not based upon the rule of nature, 
and of course can not be just. The present prison 
systems of the various countries constitute one of 
the chief menaces to the stability of government. 
The convict who is miserably, desperately, or inhu- 
manly treated, himself becomes miserable, desperate 
or inhuman. Such a convict, feeling that the world 
has deserted him, that nobody has any care or sym- 
pathy for him, and that all men are his enemies, 
becomes careless, unsympathetic and the enemy of 
all social order, and waits ony for the date of his 
release to take vengeance upon citizen or state. As 
the result of the unkind treatment, he is an hundred 
times more dangerous at the date of release than 
he was when first incarcerated. And he constitutes 
the grade of criminal who commits the horrible 
crimes which shock the civilized world. The fact 
that convicts are made more wicked by cruel punish- 
ment is a standing proof that such punishment is 



The New Idea 23 

wrong. The criminal history of all present and 
former governments evidences the fact that no 
improvement can be made in convicts or any one else 
by the administration of strait punishment. Thus, 
under this form of treatment, the government, in the 
end, destroys the very interests it would protect and 
conserve. And the prison system of the different 
nations, generally, becomes only an huge manufac- 
turing establishment for the manufacture of desper- 
ate, daring, and dangerous criminals. It seems that 
the convict should be held under reasonable and fair 
treatment until he reforms. And if he does not 
reform, he should be held until his death, and that 
he should not be, as a desperate criminal, turned 
loose upon the people, to contaminate the social 
atmosphere, and destroy the property or life of 
citizens. 



CAPITAL PUNISHMENT. 

In the primeval state, the original laws of eternal 
justice, which ordain that man shall be reasonable 
and just in all of his conduct, which decree that he 
develop and advance to the highest possible state of 



24 The New Idea 

goodness, truth and wisdom, and which establish 
that, in all of his struggle to attain the higher life, 
he must at all times do what he reasonably can to 
facilitate the advance of his fellow man, whose duty 
it is to make the common effort; give to the rude 
barbarian the right to take the life of his unlettered 
contemporaries upon the sole condition, that it is 
reasonably necessary to preserve his own. If the 
barbarian has been fiercely assaulted, but succeeds in 
expelling his adversary, he is not justified in taking 
the life of the assailant at a later period on the 
ground of the former assault. And if two such men 
engage in fierce combat, and one gets the advantage 
and disarms the other, the man who thus has the 
advantage is not, under the original law justified in 
taking the life of the disarmed and helpless man. 
This being the limit and condition of man's right, 
in his natal state, to take human life, in entering into 
the social compact, he could confer no other upon the 
general government. It is thus conclusive that the 
state, under the eternal principles of justice upon 
which all governments are founded, has no moral 
right to take human life except on such occasions 
when its interests are being actually, immediately 
and dangerously assaulted. The criminal being 
disarmed and safely within the hands of the custo- 
dians of the law, the danger and i'the pressing 



The New Idea 25 

necessity for destructive measures culminate, and 
with them ends the right of the state to take the life 
of the culprit. 



CAPITAL PUNISHMENT DOES NOT 

BENEFIT OR MAKE THE WORLD 

BETTER. 

In addition to the fact that capital punishment 
is a violation of the primary laws of justice, it may 
be truly said that it neither protects the social order, 
nor betters the moral condition of the people. The 
history of all governments is pregnant with proof 
of this fact. A few centuries ago, England inflicted 
the extreme penalty for more than an hundred and 
fifty different offenses. But those laws have long- 
since been repudiated, and now England rarely ever 
inflicts the death penalty at all. During the exist- 
ence of those laws, England was a miserable, dis- 
affected, and unhappy government. But since their 
repudiation, crime has greatly diminished, disaf- 
fection has been expelled, and England has become 
one of the most prosperous and powerful nations of 
the globe. The ghostly whisper, from the graves 
of the buried nations, tells us that capital punish- 



26 The New Idea 

ment was a custom among all of them and that 
they engaged in fierce struggles to see which could 
be foremost in the invention of instruments of 
extreme torture, but their sad dissolution does not 
indicate that they acted justly. It does not appear 
that there would be a wreck or dissolution of any 
government, system or thing which pursues a course 
in harmony with the principles of primeval justice. 
Nor does it appear that there would be overmuch 
friction or disorder within the system. The Russian 
government is a living example of the natural and 
reasonable outcome of rude governmental treatment 
of culprits. It may also be truly said, that thru all 
ages, the governments which have been the most 
humane have been the most happy and prosperous. 
And, in the true sense, this principle holds good 
among individuals. 



PRESENT MODE OF CAPITAL 
PUNISHMENT. 

The indictment, trial, conviction, judgment, and 
execution which constitute the present system of 
capital punishment, among governments, are all gone 
thru with quietly and deliberately, and there is no 



The New Idea 27 

evidence of pressing or irresistible necessity. In 
such cases the taking of the life of the culprit has 
been prejudged, pre-arranged and pre-determined, 
and everything is done in a cold, cautious, and 
deliberate manner. In such cases, all of the powers 
of the state unite and crush the life out of the pale, 
weak, unarmed and helpless culprit. The culprit, 
being unarmed, bound and helpless, there exists no 
pressing necessity, nor does the governmental preser- 
vation demand that his life be taken. And the 
taking of the life of the convict under such circum- 
stances not being a reasonably pressing necessity of 
governmental preservation, can be justified only upon 
human law. And history proves that human laws 
will not endure unless based upon the principles of 
natural justice. 



THE CAUSES AND SOURCES OF 
CRIMES. 

Crime has existed in all ages, and among all people. 
And during the procession of the centuries, many 
efforts have been put forth looking into its origin, 
and seeking remedies for its prevention. History 
affords the best light upon this, as it does upon all 



28 The New Idea 

other subjects of governmental concern. And history 
indicates that ignorance, idleness, the low resorts, the 
habit of gambling, and the production, sale and con- 
sumption of intoxicating liquors constitute the cause 
and source of all crime, and of these ignorance is the 
chief of the dark procession. It appears that the 
most of the others are secondary causes only, and that 
they owe their own existence to ignorance, which is 
the primary or chief cause of all crime. 



THE RULE OF ALL MORAL DEVELOP- 
MENT, ADVANCEMENT AND 
IMPROVEMENT. 

He, who lives in a good house, eats good food, 
wears good clothes, employs himself in some good 
and useful occupation, takes his just and proper 
rest, and accommodates his general habits to the 
laws of health, will be all right materially, will have 
good health, and will get something out of life. It 
is equally true that he, who lives in a miserable 
cabin, eats impure food, goes about half-clad, 
employs himself in some questionable business, 
breaks his rest at any or all hours, and fails to order 
his customs to suit the laws of health, will be a sad 



The New Idea 29 

and miserable wreck not only physically but morally 
as well. The man may grow healthy and happy or 
he may become diseased and miserable, it all depends 
upon the conditions in which he has his existence. 
The man's body has a tendency to become like the 
substances upon which it feeds, and his moral char- 
acter daily grows more like the conditions in which 
he lives. His body grows, in the main, as the result 
of digesting, absorbing and assimilating the foods, 
and his moral character develops because of the 
mental digestion, absobtions and assimilation of the 
image of the conditions in which the body exists. 
But whether the body will grow healthy or become 
diseased, or whether the moral character will develop 
into noble proportion or into wicked tendencies, can 
be decided only by recourse to the conditions in 
which the man lives. However, it may be truly said 
that there can be no growth, either physical, moral 
mental or spiritual, without eating, digesting 
absorbing, and assimilating substances. The moral 
mental and spiritual life all grow strong, pure 
and noble when they feast upon a beautiful and 
well accommodated home, good books, noble historic 
characters, beautiful pictures and scenery, the pure 
and beautiful in art and nature, upon the association 
of true and faithful friends, and upon Him who is 
perfect in all things. It appears that we find here 



30 The New Idea 

the rule of all moral, mental, and spiritual improve- 
ment. The mind, soul, and spirit will develop in 
truth and nobleness, if they feast upon true, pure 
and noble subjects, otherwise the contrary appears. 
And strength of character, purity of spirit, and noble- 
ness of soul are of slow growth. JSTo man ever 
became good or noble in a day or in a year, and all 
assertions to the contrary are erroneous. It takes 
much time and effort to get completely beyond the 
bounds of any particular environment in which man 
may find himself established. 



Attratti SfrutamB. 



The teachings of Confucius and Buddha, the 
poems of Homer and Virgil, the philosophy of 
Socrates and Plato, the orations of Demosthenes and 
Cicero, and the laws of ancient Borne, are all inter- 
spersed with beautiful principles of eternal truth. 
But it appears that there is no extant evidence that 
either of those teachers, or the law-givers of the 
Eoman empire, knew the foundation upon which 
those principles are based. Confucius and Buddha 
bewitched all Asia with their doctrines and still, 
after the procession of more than twenty-five hun- 
dred years, hold it within their grasp. The sweet 
songs of Homer and Virgil have been a continuous 
source of joy and love to all of the ancient and 
modern world, and will continue to shower blessings 
upon all future generations. The philosophy of 
Socrates and Plato was the guiding star of the 
ancient world, the only light which directed the 
world out of the wilderness of the dark ages, it still 
shines in the present age, is destined to occupy a seat 



32 The New Idea 

in the front rank throuout all future generations, 
and be one of the chief instructors of the human 
race. The orations of Demosthenes and Cicero 
charmed the ancient world, have been a source of 
pleasure and profit to all succeeding generations, 
and they will continue to instruct and improve the 
human race until the end of time. The law-makers 
of Eome were among the wisest people of the ancient 
world, they made many true and just laws, and all 
succeeding law-makers have availed themselves of 
their reservoirs of information. Yet it does not any- 
where appear that any of these Ancients ever arrived 
at first principles, and it is after these principles that 
we now proceed to inquire. 



ORIGINAL PRINCIPLES. 

Nature is man's great universal teacher, and all 
who would be truly learned must attend diligently 
upon her school. She holds the only school in which 
one may learn the true nature, laws, and relations 
of men and things. Her doors are always open, 
and her rules are unchangeable. She plays no favor- 
ites, and is equally kind to all comers. Her doctrines 



The New Idea 33 

are all original truths, and she never misleads those 
who diligently follow her instruction. All law and 
all logic are original with her. She informs man of 
his original, the just and proper course of his life, 
and of his just and proper termination. She teaches 
men their common relation, their duties to them- 
selves, and the common duties which they owe one 
to another. All true principles of morality, social 
duty, intellectual advancement, and spiritual happi- 
ness are taught within her halls of learning. AH 
true governments are founded upon her, and all of 
their rules are transcripts of her laws. All of the 
phenomena of matter and mind, and all of the 
apparent mystery of life and death are beautifully 
explained by this mild and generous preceptor. She 
teaches the origin, nature and purpose of all of the 
passions of the soul of man. No true knowledge 
can be obtained without passing thru her great insti- 
tution. All prophecies may be false, and all trans- 
lations of ancient languages may contain errors and 
imperfections, but there are no falsehoods, errors or 
imperfections in nature's language. She teaches the 
only true and beautiful systems of ethics, philosophy, 
government and religion. In her school, there are 
no disputes about errors of translation, each student 
finds the work in its original purity, and no student 
is asked to accept anything at second-hand. She 



34 The New Idea 

makes no demand about faith, except faith in one's 
ability to do work. Patient and diligent inquiry, and 
work, work, work, are her eternal demands, and 
constitute the only price of all of her treasure. 



THE CREATOR. 

The spectator or student, who attends well upon 
nature's teaching and patiently and diligently inves- 
tigates and inquires into all phenomena of earth, 
air, light, fire, heat, water, night, day, summer, 
winter, rain, snow, the planetary systems, all vege- 
table and animal life, and the nature, habits and 
constitution of man, observes a beautiful, nice, and 
perfect adjustment in all things. And each thing 
becomes a sage instructor, and informs the spectator 
in a sweet, beautiful and perfect language. It is 
thru this vast and varied phenomena that the spec- 
tator discovers Him Who is perfect in all justice, 
goodness, wisdom and power. Nature informs her 
spectator that she is the product of Him Who is 
perfect, and that all things are the issue of His 
perfect workmanship. She teaches that the Creator 
can not be discovered, known or understood except 
by listening to, and diligently learning the teachings 



The New Idea 35 

of his works. She informs the spectator that all 
ancient information concerning the Creator is a 
comedy of errors. She tells the spectator that it is 
only by being a willing and persistent student in her 
common school, that he can be able to know himself, 
his relation to his fellow man, to his Creator, and his 
common duty to all. That the Creator is the fountain 
and source of all law, is made plain by nature's 
teachings. 



MAN'S RELATION TO HIS CREATOR. 

All things which have in some degree like prin- 
ciples and like powers are relative. And man's power 
to plan and construct, to discover and invent, to 
learn and love, to grow in goodness, wisdom and 
truth, and his objection to being completely satisfied 
with anything short of that which is perfect, clearly 
establish his relationship to Him Who is perfect in 
all things. 



MAN'S LAW OF LIFE. 

The happy adjustment which extends thruout 
nature constitutes the law of the existence of each 



36 The New Idea 

thing. Everything has the power within itself to 
attain the end which is common and proper to it. 
And everything is so beneficiently constructed that 
it will be contented, satisfied and perfectly happy 
with its just and proper end, but will be at ease with 
no other conclusion. It naturally follows that to 
know the law of man's life, we have only to know 
that which gives perfect peace to his higher nature. 
Then, the law of his life is the way which leads him 
to that perfect peace. But what will afford man 
this peace which alone satisfies, and for which he 
was ordained? The history of the ages is evidence 
that the things of earth are unequal to the purpose, 
and that wealth, power, and glory do not satisfy. 
And we return to nature's school to learn that man's 
perfect peace consists in his perfect love of Him 
Who is perfect. And that the law of his life is that 
which commands him to seek, love, and imitate as 
nearly as possible Him Who is the Author of all 
things. Nature teaches that all of man's true happi- 
ness and interests, both in the material an din the 
immaterial world, depend upo nhis faithful compli- 
ance with this fundamental law of his life. All 
duties, which man owe to himself, and ti his fellow 
man, and all systems of government, are based upon 
the law of life. 



The New Idea 37 

THE WHOLE DUTY OF MAN. 

To do work, to do all in his power to improve him- 
self, to be kind and accommodating to his fellow 
man and to do what he can to improve them, to be 
just, kind, courteous and reasonable in all of his 
dealings, and to seek, love and imitate Him Who 
is perfect in all things, constitute the whole duty 
of man. 



(DftbtUituL 



Thru the medium of the senses, man has thoughts. 
And these thoughts are evolved and developed within 
the mind, supported, by evidence, and, to the man 
who develops them, become fixed opinions. The 
opinion is as yet individual property, but the orig- 
inator of such an opinion, feeling that it may be of 
benefit to his fellow man or for other reason, formu- 
lates it into written or spoken language, gives it to 
the public and it becomes common property or com- 
mon opinion. Any opinion which satisfies the mind 
of one man of a given age and country, will 
satisfy the minds of some other men of the same age 
and the same country. And it is for this reason 
that opinions live, at least for a time, and win 
devotees. Any kind of an opinion originated at a 
certain time and place may live twenty-five centuries 
and have hundreds of millions of adherents. It is 
not a prerequisite that an opinion must be true in 
order to live long and gain followers. ISTay, the facts, 
that an opinion is many centuries old and has 



40 The New Idea 

hundreds of millions of sincere and devoted adher- 
ents, are not even admissible in evidence as to the 
truth of the opinion. 



THE EVOLUTION OF OPINIONS. 

Opinions are not exempt from the laws of evolu- 
tion and during the passing of the ages, we find 
among them the struggle for existence and the sur- 
vival of the fittest. 

To prove the truth of what has been said con- 
cerning opinions, we consider the following ideas, 
viz: 



ALCHEMY. 

For many centuries, the ideas expressed by the 
Alchemists were absolute in their control of human 
conduct. And many devoted people spent their lives 
in search of the herb of immortality, the uni- 
versal solvent, and some magical substance which 
would make gold and silver of all metals. But 
neither the means for prolonging life, the universal 



The New Idea 41 

menstruum or the substance for transmuting ba»e 
metal into the finer, were ever discovered. And 
Alchemy was a failure for the reason that it was 
based upon mystical, rather than scientific, prin- 
ciples; and the science of chemistry is its logical 
offspring. 



ASTROLOGY. 

The astrological opinions no longer hold sway over 
the minds of men, and in these times, it is altogether 
immaterial when, where or under what star a man 
may be born ; nor is the time, place or the position of 
stars, at death, taken into account. It is now the 
opinion that man's fortune depends upon his con- 
duct, rather than the time or place of his birth, or 
the position and location of the stars. 



SLAVERY. 

That it was right and just to own slaves, and 
to sell their own children into perpetual slavery, con- 
stitutes an opinion which was adhered to by all 
primeval nations. And during the mutations of the 



4 The New Idea 

ages, as the natural outcome of such an opinion, the 
ancestors of all existing races have been slaves. But, 
now, this opinion, which was held sacred for so many 
ages, has long since been repudiated by all advanced 
people. 



DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS. 

The opinion that kings were of Divine appoint- 
ment and ruled by Divine right, was absolute among 
the nations of the world for many centuries. And 
to dispute or antagonize this opinion meant death, 
as all such antagonism was long regarded as high 
treason against king and government. But all of 
such ideas have long since been boldly rejected, and 
it has been universally proclaimed that all just 
governments derive their power from the consent of 
the governed, and that rulers have no other authority 
than that given them by the people. In these days, 
the people are the kings, and the rulers are the 
servants of the people; such are the mutations of 
the ages. 



The New Idea 43 

THE SHAPE OF THE EARTH. 

In former ages, all nations united in the opinion 
that the world was flat, and that the sun made its 
daily circuit around it. In those times, the advance- 
ment of the opinion, that the world was a sphere, 
that it continuously whirled in space, and that it 
was held in position thru the medium of the law of 
universal gravitation, was attacked as blasphemy 
against the Olympian, and other gods. This 
opinion, like many others which afflicted the ancient 
world, has been 'eradicated thru the medium of 
scientific inquiry. 



OPINIONS OF ARISTOTLE. 

The methods and processes promulgated by Aris- 
totle held sway over the thinking world for nearly 
fifteen hundred years. His opinions, however, the 
world has long since repudiated, and human happi- 
ness and development have been the result of that 
repudiation. 



44 The New Idea 

ANCIENT RELIGIOUS OPINIONS. 
BRAHMANISM. 

The caste system is the all ruling principle con- 
tained in the religious teachings of Brahma. Much 
cruelty, superstitution and barbarity are woven into 
this opinion. Still, the Brahamic opinion has existed 
for more than twenty-five centuries and has more 
than one hundred and eighty millions of devoted 
followers. 



CONFUCIANISM. 

In publishing his opinion, Confucius gave to the 
world a system of pure ethics. And the opinion of 
Confucius is as old or possibly older than the opinion 
of Brahma. Still, notwithstanding the fact that the 
principles enunciated by Confucius are ten thousand 
times more noble and exalting than the doctrines of 
Brahma, Confucianism has only about an hundred 
thousand followers at the present day. 



BUDDHISM. 

Buddha was one of the most conscientious and 
noble of the religious teachers of the ancient world. 



The New Idea 45 

In his system, are found some of the most lofty and 
beautiful principles that were ever given to man by 
a religious teacher. The Buddhistic opinion is now 
more than twenty-five centuries old and has nearly 
five hundred millions of faithful and devoted 
adherents. 



THE OPINION OF THE JEWS. 

The religious opinion of the Jews is also of very 
ancient origin, promulgates many beautiful prin- 
ciples, and numbers about nine millions of followers. 



CATHOLICISM. 

The teachings of the Catholic opinion are based 
upon the old Jewish literature and the New Testa- 
ment. And the cardinal principles of the Catholic 
opinion, are the doctrines concerning the infallibility 
of the Pope, the doctrines about purgatory, the doc- 
trine that the apocrypha is infallible, the doctrine 
about images, and the doctrine about the Father, 
Son and Holy Ghost. The Catholic opinion is about 
as old as Peter, the apostle, and has an adherency of 
two hundred and twenty-five millions of people. 



46 The New Idea 

ISLAMISM. 

Mahomet, about six hundred years after the birth 
of Christ, after spending much time in a cave, 
promulgated the weird system of doctrines which 
constitute the guide of the hosts of Islam % The 
doctrines of Mahomet assert, among other things, 
that Mahomet is the greatest of all of the prophets, 
that Mahomet is infallible, that man's doom is sealed 
before his birth and that nothing he may do can alter 
this pre-ordination, that he who dies fighting in the 
cause of Islamism goes direct to heaven, and that 
God had commanded that the doctrines of Islamism 
should be established by the sword. The rude 
opinion, of this Arabian prophet, possessed great 
power for winning converts, and its followers now 
number more than two hundred and twenty millions 
of sacrificing and devoted subjects. 



THE GRECIAN OPINION OF MAN'S 
COMMON PURPOSE. 

The opinion of the learned men of ancient Greece, 
"That man's chief purpose in the world is to do his 
duty" still holds good among all men of learning, it 
bears the stamp of immortality, and seems destined 



The New Idea 

to live thru all future ages. The Grecian opinion 
is founded upon the original law of justice, which 
the beneficent Creator has placed within the breast 
of all men. This law commands that man be reason- 
able, just, logical and practical in all of his dealings. 



THE DEVOTEES OF THE DIFFERENT 
OPINIONS. 

The devotees of each of the above named opinions 
claimed, or, if the opinion still lives, claim that 
theirs is the only true opinion, and that all other 
opinions upon the subject are false. The devotees 
are equally devoted to their several opinions, and are 
equally ready to die for the principles which those 
opinions contain. The opinions above named and 
remarked upon sufficiently illustrate and prove the 
assertion, that the facts, of long standing, being 
well settled, and possessing many millions of faith- 
ful and devoted adherents, are no proof of the truth 
of an opinion. And it is in the light of the fore- 
going considerations that we proceed to inquire 
into the truth of the chief religious opinion of the 
modern world. 



48 The New Idea 

THE CHIEF RELIGIOUS OPINION OF 
THE MODERN WORLD. 

That Christ was of Divine origin, constitutes the 
substance of the chief religious opinion of the present 
age. This opinion is old, well settled and has, 
including Catholics, Protestants and various denom- 
nations, nearly four hundred and fifty millions of 
followers, or nearly as many as adhere to the opinion 
of Buddha, and somewhat more than follow the 
religious teachings of Confucius, or Brahma, or 
Zoroaster or any one of the many other religious 
prophets of antiquity. But since longstanding, being 
well settled and having a great host of adherents is 
no evidence of the truth of an opinion, in order to 
ascertain the truth or worth of any system of 
religious or other teachings it is necessary to inquire 
into the origin, history, and internal merit of the 
system. And the chief modern religious opinion 
being based upon the Bible, we shall proceed to con- 
sider the origin, history and intrinsic merit of that 
Book. 



©rigm trf % Stbl^ 

THE SACRED LITERATURE OF THE 
JEWS. 

The Bible is derived either directly or indirectly 
from the sacred literature of the ancient Jews. But 
nobody knows when, where, for what purpose or by 
whom the sacred literature of the ancient Jews was 
written. Nobody knows when, where, why or how the 
literature of the ancient Jews became to be any more 
sacred than the ancient literature of other ancient 
nations. Nobody knows why the literature of the 
ancient Jews should be called sacred literature, and 
nobody knows that it is entitled to be called sacred 
literature. Nobody knows where or by whom the 
literature of the Jews, from which the Bible was 
either directly or indirectly taken, was preserved up 
to the time that the Bible was taken from it. 



HAGIOGRAPHA. 

There is no reasonable method whereby one may 
find out when, where, by whom or for what purpose 



50 The New Idea 

the ancient sacred literature of the Jews was written ; 
but a consideration of the Hagiographa will put one 
in possession of sufficient evidence whereby to ascer- 
tain the method thru which the ancient Jewish 
litrature gradually grew to the point where it was 
termed sacred literature. 

TALMUD. 

The method whereby the literature of the ancient 
Jews received the title, "sacred literature" is further 
illustrated by the Talmud. The Talmud is largely 
made up of rules, definitions and decisions, which 
have been handed down by the learned Jewish 
lawyers and doctors from time immemorial; and in 
course of time these rules, definitions, regulations, 
and decisions, came to be regarded by the Jews as 
sacred literature. 

TALMUD. 

The Talmud is of higher authority among the 
learned Jews of the present day, than is the sacred 
literature from which the Bible was taken. And it 
appears that the learned Jews do not consider their 
own literature so seriously as do people of different 
birth. 



The New Idea V 51 

SEPTUAGENT. 

The Septuagent is the indirect source of the Bible, 
yet nobody knows when, where, by whom or for what 
purpose the Septuagent was written. And nobody 
knows from what source the literature was obtained 
from which the Septuagent was taken. 

CANON LAW. 

All of the books contained in the Bible were placed 
there by authority of ecclesiasticl Councils. The 
sacredness, Divinity, and infalibility of the books 
were argued, voted upon and decided in ecclesi- 
astical Councils before they were permitted to hold 
a place in the Bible. And it is true to say that the 
present Bible was made in and by ecclesiastical Coun- 
cils, and by the ecclesiastical or canon law, the Bible 
has been declared to be the -true and infallible word 
of God. But there is no evidence that such Councils 
knew or know that their declarations were or are 
true. Nor does it appear why the word of God 
should need to be declared to be the word of God by 
an ecclsiastical or any other Council. Still, it is so, 
and it appears that the whole matter will remain in 
the present state, because no one can explain why 
such proceeding was necessary. 



52 The New Idea 

APOCRYPHA. 

The very best evidence, of the method whereby the 
Bible has been made in and by the ancient ecclesi- 
astical Councils, is to be ascertained by a consider- 
ation of the fourteen books which collectively are 
known as the Apocrypha, together with the various 
mutations thru which those books have passed. An 
ancient ecclesiastical Council declared the Apocrypha 
to be the infallible word of God and made it a part 
of the Bible, and a few years later— during the 
fourth century — the same kind of Council declared 
that the books of the Apocrypha were nothing more 
than a bundle of myths and fables, and expelled 
them from the Bible. At a later period — during the 
sixteenth century — an ecclesiastical Council of the 
Catholic church declared the Apocrypha to be the 
infallible word of God and it is still a part of the 
Catholic Bible. Thus, the Apocrypha is the Bible 
of the great majority of the Christian family, while 
the minority is deriving its sacred information from a 
Bible which is short of fourteen of its sacred books; 
provided the ecclesiastical Council of the Catholic 
church be right in its declaration. We have now 
arrived at the battlefield where a war is in progress 
between the Catholics on the one hand and all of the 
other Christian denominations on the other. The 



The New Idea 53 

bone of contention being what is, and what is not 
the word of God. The people are entitled to know 
what the word of God really is, and it seems that all 
of the ecclesiastical Councils of the world should meet 
in one great universal ecclesiastical Council and by 
a standing vote or by a canon law declare what the 
word of God really is. Then if one wants to know 
what the word of God is the conclusion of that 
Council will inform him, while under present condi- 
tions nobody knows what the word of God is, or 
where it is to be found. It appears that it is about 
time that the ecclesiastics were uniting on this 
subject. 

The chief light upon the origin of the Bible is to 
be derived from a consideration of the sacred litera- 
ture of the Jews, the Hagiographa, the Talmud, the 
Septuagent, the Canon law, and the Apocrypha. 
And the indefiniteness and uncertainties, which hang 
over the Jewish literature, render it of doubtful 
origin. 



THE JEWS, GOD'S CHOSEN PEOPLE. 

And, further, the sacred literature of the Jews 
claims and asserts that the Jews are God's chosen 



54 The New Idea 

people ; and the very f act, that any literature accuses 
Omnipotence of playing favorites, is sufficient to 
justify any one in calling such literature in question. 
And it appears that such a charge is sufficient to 
condemn the literature and brand it as false thruout. 
Because in no just, reasonable or logical sense can 
one perceive the Creator playing the favorite with 
any man, race or nation. All such small things may 
sometimes appear among finite creatures, but 
Omnipotence takes no part in them. The Great 
Spirit, being just, uniform, perfect and universal 
in all of his dealings, has thru his law dispensed 
equal and exact justice to all men, and all nations. 
And it appears that man has no right to charge him 
with playing the favorite. Also, the other subjects, 
above mentioned, add their portion of uncertainty to 
the common doubt. From these considerations, it 
does not appear that the origin of the Bible is alto- 
gether satisfactory; however, we shall now proceed 
to consider the intrinsic merit of the Book. 



©to Sraiamwtt 



CREATION. 

The confused and contradictory nature of the 
narration of the creation, indicates that it was made 
up of scraps taken from the writings of varioaus 
persons at different ages. The constantly repeated 
statement, that the evening and the morning were 
thus, thus and so, suggest that the writer of it was of 
opinion that it might not be received, unless some- 
thing musical should be added. Proceeding under 
the evening and morning paraphernalia, the first 
writer tells us of a complete creation, in the first 
chapter of Genesis. He then proceeds to the first 
verse of the second chapter where he tells us that 
"Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all 
the host of them," and he deliberately contradicts him- 
self before proceeding five verses. It could not have 
been the work of one writer, because any man who 
had the ability to write the first chapter would have 
had more sense than to have denounced it as false in 
the second chapter. The chief argument, against this 



56 The New Idea 

theory of creation, is taht it is in conflict with philo- 
sophical knowledge. The science, of evolution, says 
that the Creator may have breathed life into a few 
forms or into one. The principles of evolution are 
supported by every branch of science, by the growth 
and development of every trade and every business, 
and by the unfolding, extension, and growth of all 
human customs. There is no question as to the 
truth of the science of evolution. Now, the science 
of evolution, and the creation of things, as detailed 
in the book of Genesis, are in deadly conflict with 
each other, and one or the other must fall. Which of 
the two is the more substantial, or the more worthy 
of credit? Should men give credence to writings 
inconsistent and contradictory in themselves and 
possibly more than three thousand years old, out of 
harmony with common sense, and of unknown origin ; 
or should they accept natural, reasonable and scien- 
tific conclusions ? If ancient writings are inconsistent 
in themselves, and contrary to common sense and 
disputed by all scientific investigation, upon what 
principle are people compelled to give them credit? 
Man certainly violates no moral rule by refusing to 
accept such writings; but on the other hand, every 
time man does an unreasonable thing or accepts an 
unreasonable, and inconsistent statement, he violates 
a moral law. The chief law demands that man act 



The New Idea 57 

reasonable in all things; and he who gives credence 
to unreasonable propositions violates this law. 



FALL OF MAN. 

If the book of Genesis can be depended upon, all 
of the misery that the world has seen is the result 
of the eating of an apple. From the third chapter of 
Genesis, it appears that the serpent, the apple and the 
woman are the cause of all human ills. It further 
appears that if the serpent had not been made, or 
if the apple had been placed so high that the woman 
could not have gotten it, or if the woman had been 
given sufficient strength wherewith to resist the ser- 
pent, all would have been well. From reading the 
book, it does not appear why some of these things 
were not done. After the eating of the apple, man 
was fired from the garden and a soldier, armed to 
the teeth, placed there to keep him out. It does not 
appear that he was given any law or instructed in 
his duties, either to his Creator, to his fellow maw 
or to himself. If the Bible is to be believed, God 
was not content with firing the man and woman from 
the garden; but he told the poor weak woman that 
he would greatly multiply her sorrows, condemned 



58 The New Idea 

her to be an eternal slave to her husband; and told 
the man that he should eat in sorrow all of his days, 
and cursed the ground so that it would not produce 
things desirable for food. It does not appear how 
long the man and woman lived in the garden before 
eating the apple. They may not have been there 
five minutes or they may have been there five million 
years. But from the way the writings are connected, 
we have the right to assume that they were not there 
more than two or three minutes before they began 
eating the apple, under the directions of the serpent, 
and it may have been ten or twelve minutes before 
they were fired out of the garden. 

But why was the garden created? It can not be 
that the Creator made the garden, and placed man in 
it merely for the purpose of firing him out of it and 
placing a curse upon him. We can not see the justice 
of thus dealing so rigidly with a poor weak creature ; 
nor is there any evidence of wisdom in the narrated 
circumstances of the fall. There is neither justice nor 
wisdom in it; and the Creator, being both just and 
wise, had nothing to do with any such boyish nonsense 
and injustice. But how is it that serpents no longer 
talk ? If the Bible is to be trusted, he was condemned 
to go on his belly and eat dust; but there is no 
evidence that he was to lose the power of speech. 



The New Idea 59 

How comes it that serpents are all dumb in these 
days? 

All of the narration about the creation of the world 
and living things, the double creation of man and 
woman, the ribg story, the apple, the serpent, the 
curse of the woman, the curse of the man, and the 
curse of the ground, all at first existed as mere meta- 
physical speculation. The whole narration, was at 
first advanced as a mere theory, and was in no sense 
intended to state facts. It was the issue of the rude 
ages in their effort to solve the problem of universal 
phenomena. No man can say how many millions of 
years man had existed before he could originate the 
theory set out in the book of Genesis. The state- 
ment about the curse of the serpent arose from the 
. fact that it was found moving upon its belly, which 
appeared so inconvenient, that it was spposed that a 
special curse had been placed upon it. In its dealing 
with woman, it seems to be the intention to have her 
feel that she is inferior to man, both in dignity and 
origin, and by reason of the curse. It being claimed 
that she was made out of a man's rib, and that the 
curse condemned her to be ruled over by her husband. 
In all of this nothing more can be seen, than an 
attempt of a rude and barbarous age to degrade, 
debase, and humiliate woman. All of this is the 
creation of the mind of an ancient and rude people, 



60 The New Idea 

and at a time when all the world was in a dark, dull, 
and rude state. 



CAIN AND ABEL. 

In the fourth chapter of Genesis, we find that in 
process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought 
of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. 
And Abel brought of the firstlings of his flock, and 
of the fat thereof. That the Lord had respect unto 
Abel and unto his offering. But uuto Cain and unto 
his offering the Lord had no respect. We find that 
Cain got mad about the non-acceptance of his offer- 
ing and the slight to himself ; and that after a public 
interview with the Lord (we say public interview 
because we suppose that the narrator of the story 
must have overheard the conversation between Cain 
and the Lord; but where they were, or how long the 
debate lasted are not stated) killed his brother. After 
the commission of the homicide, if the Bible is to be 
believed, Cain left the presence of the Lord and went 
into some country which the book of Genesis calls 
Nod. It seems that Cain immediately after going 
to Nod, had a son born to him. There had up to 
this time been only four people in the world, consist- 



The New Idea 61 

ing of one woman and three men, one of whom had 
been killed, leaving one woman and two men. If the 
Bible is true there was no wife for Cain. It does not 
appear where or when he found her; nor does it 
appear that there were any other people where Cain 
found his wife. We find here a fatal contradiction. 
And further, there had been no law commanding 
sacrifices. Then, why, when, and where were the 
sacrifices offered by Cain and Abel? What would 
the Lord want with either a sheep, or a few bushels 
of corn? But, if the Lord desired either, on what 
principle is a sheep or goat better than the fruit of 
the earth? Who told Cain that the Lord was not 
pleased with his offering; and why should Cain be 
mad with Abel? Why would the Lord hold conver- 
sation with Cain and Abel about goats and straw- 
berries? How did Cain get beyond the presence of 
the Lord? Where was the Lord living at the time? 
Why did the Lord ask what is this that thou hast 
done? Did he not know without asking? Was 
inquiry the medium thru which the Creator 
possessed himself of information? The writers 
of the book of Genesis may have teen the most 
intelligent people of those dark ages, but their con- 
ception of the Deity evidences them to have been 
a rude and barbarous people. They considered that 
there were many Gods; and that the Gods were sub- 



62 The New Idea 

ject to all of the human passions. The Bible charges 
God with being sorry and grieved that he made man. 
It also indicates that if God had known in the begin- 
ning, that man was going to turn out bad as he did, 
he would have left him unmade. In many places 
God is either directly or indirectly charged with 
ignorance. He is also in many places accused of 
harboring malice, hatred and the spirit of revenge, 
and all other weakness common to humanity. All 
of which shows that the Bible conception of the 
Deity, differs only in a small degree from the concep- 
tion which obtained among the Egyptians, Persians, 
Greeks, and Eomans, and all of the Eastern nations 
about the time of the birth of Christ. 



FLOOD. 

If man had become so wicked that he deserved to be 
drowned at the hands of an infuriated Deity, it does 
not appear upon what principle it was just to drown 
all of the innocent beasts of forest and field. It 
appears that the people could have been reasonably 
killed without killing all of the beasts. It would have 
been just as easy to have scared all of the people into 
the sea, as it was to get all of that water together. 



The New Idea 63 

Then, too, it would have been more just and merci- 
ful, because all of the beasts would have gone 
unharmed. There was no justice in destroying the 
animals in that way. And where did all of that 
water come from; and after everything was filled 
with water, to what place could the water recede? 
Is the drowning of people the most reasonable and 
humane plan of getting rid of wickedness? Could 
there not have been a more reasonable and humane 
scheme devised for improving the race of men? 
Could not they have been improved, purified, and 
elevated by true and pure instruction, and proper 
surroundings? Does it appear that man should 
charge God with doing unjust and unreasonable 
things ? 



THE RAINBOW. 

The supreme ignorance of the writers of the book 
of Genesis, is shown by the fact that they did not 
know that the rainbow was common phenomena. 
They could not understand it, but in the course of 
their meditations they decided that such a conclu- 
sion would have weight with the rude and barbarous 
people of that age. Why would God descend to talk 



64 The New Idea 

with man or make covenants with him about rain or 
any other matter? Is it not more like a God to 
make laws, place them where they can be seen and 
understood, give man power and freedom to obey 
or disobey them, and leave him to his pleasure; his 
happiness and fortune depending upon his obedience 
to the laws made? All of the talk, found in the 
ninth chapter of Genesis, about rainbows and 
covenants, constitutes a part of a concerted plan on 
the part of the leading scribes of those ancient times 
to control the minds and property of the crude people 
of that age. 



CONFUSION OF TONGUES. 

It does not appear that the various languages arose 
in the manner described in the eleventh chapter of 
Genesis. It does not appear that the people said, "Go 
to, let us build us a city, and a tower, whose top may 
reach unto heaven ; and let us make us a name, lest 
we be scattered abroad upon the whole earth." It 
does not appear that the Lord came down to see the 
city and the tower, which the children of men 
builded. Nor does it appear that the Lord said 
"Behold, the people is one, and they have all one 



The New Idea 65 

language ; and this they begin to do : and now nothing 
will be restrained from them, which they have 
imagined to do — Go to, let us go down and confound 
their language, that they may not understand one 
another's speech." Why did God have to come down 
to see the city and the tower? Could he not see 
them at all times and in all places? Evidently the 
writers of the book of Genesis did not think so. 
They thought that God was short-sighted and ignor- 
ant like themselves. On what principle would God 
concern himself because man was trying to build a 
high house? By what rule would it be just to con- 
fuse the languages of a poor weak people, who were, 
according to the Bible, so ignorant that they thought 
that they could build a tower to heaven? What 
right have we to believe that God was of opinion, 
that since man was attempting to build a high house, 
nothing that he imagined to do could be restrained 
from him? What moral right has man to attribute 
such nonsensical conduct to a perfect Creator? The 
tower of Babel evidences not only the ignorance of 
the people of that time of the magnitude of the 
universe; but it also shows the disposition of the 
leading scribes of that time to throttle inquiry and 
shut off investigation. The writers of the Babel 
story wanted it to appear that inquiry was a dis- 
pleasure to the Lord. The Roman emperor Justinian 



66 The New Idea 

acted in obedience to the principle of non-investi- 
gation, as set forth in the Babel story, when during 
the fifth century, with the strong hand of war, he 
killed philosophers, and forever closed the Greek 
schools, which had been the light of the world for 
many centuries. The dark ages were the direct con- 
sequence of the closing of the schools of Greece; and 
all that mankind suffered during those cruel cen- 
turies are traceable directly to the Babel story, which 
was put forward by its writers to put a quietus upon 
investigation, to cower the people and hold them in 
slavery to old opinion and ideas. All of which was 
for the temporal benefit of the scribes rather than 
the temporal, and spiritual benefit of the people. 

It does not appear, that the Genesisian scribes of 
the Babel story told the truth. But, on the contrary, 
it appears that they told what they knew to be false. 
The scribes either told what they knew to be false or 
they stand convicted of the highest degree of illit- 
eracy. All subsequent material, social, moral, and 
intellectual progress refute their story. Since the age 
of the Genesisian scribes men have made scientific 
exploration of nearly every point in the universe. 
Men now talk across the ocean with no other trans- 
mitting medium, than the atmosphere. They now 
speed thru space upon the wings of the wind. With 
great guns charged with high explosives, they 



The New Idea 67 

propel grim messengers many miles. The forked 
lightning, they force upon common errands. Thru 
the medium of scientific instruments, they view and 
inspect the most distant planets. Yet, there is no 
evidence that God is displeased. He says nothing, 
either about go to, or go from. Nor does man feel 
that he violates any law by his investigations. On 
the contrary, he can in no other way comply with the 
law of his being. All of which constitutes a com- 
plete refutation of the idea set forth by the Gene- 
sisian scribes. It does not appear how the Bible can 
stand as a whole when it goes to pieces in so many 
places. It does not appear that the word and law 
of God to man could be false in any place. It 
appears, that if the Bible is proven false, not only 
in one, but in many places, it is not the word of 
God. 



BIBLE JUSTICE. 

Injustice has been the prolific source of human 
woe, thru all former ages. It vitiates the whole of 
all substances, or things, of which it becomes a part. 
Nothing is genuine which has injustice incorporated 
with it. Injustice, and all things of which it forms 



68 The New Idea 

a substantial part, must and will fall. Injustice, 
and all things into which it is incorporated, are of 
finite origin. The infinite will not incorporate with 
injustice, it being eternally just, and incorruptible. 
In view of these observations, we proceed to inquire 
into the justice of the Bible's teachings. We quote 
the following, viz: 

Deut. XIV. 21. Ye shall not eat of anything that 
dieth of itself: thou shalt give it unto the 
stranger that is in thy gates, that he may eat 
it ; or thou mayest sell it unto an alien : for thou 
art a holy people unto the Lord thy God. 

Deut. XIII. 9. If thy brother entice thee secretly, 
saying let us go and serve other gods, which thou 
hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers; thou 
shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first 
upon him to put him to death, and afterwards 
the hand of all the people. And thou shalt 
stone him with stones, that he die because he 
hath sought to thrust thee away from the Lord 
thy God, which brought thee out of the land of 
Egypt, from the house of bondage. 

Deut. XVII. 12. And the man that will do pre- 
sumptuously, and will not hearken unto the 
priest that standeth there to minister before the 



The New Idea 69 

Lord thy God, or unto the judge, even that man 
shall die. 

Deut. XXIII. 1-20. He that is wounded in the 
stones, or hath his privy member cut off, shall 
not enter into the congregation of the Lord. 

Deut. XXIII. 2-20. A bastard shall not enter into 
the congregation of the Lord : even to his tenth 
generation shall he not enter into the congrega- 
tion of the Lord. Unto a stranger thou mayest 
lend upon usury; but unto thy brother thou 
shalt not lend upon usury: that the Lord thy 
God may bless thee in all that thou settest thy 
hand to in the land whither thou goeth to 
possess it. 

Deut. XXV. 11. When men strive together one with 
another, and the wife of the one draweth near 
for to deliver her husband out of the hand of 
him that smiteth him, and putteth forth her 
hand, and taketh him by the secrets : Then thou 
shalt cut off her hand, thine eye shall not pity 
her. 

Deut. XXI. 20, 21. A stubborn son shall be stoned 
with stones that he die. 



70 The New Idea 

Dent. XX. 10-19. When thou cometh nigh unto a 
city to fight against it, then proclaim peace 
unto it. 

And it shall be, if they make thee answer of 
peace, and open unto thee, then it shall be that 
all of the people that is found therein shall be 
tributaries unto thee, and they shall serve thee. 
And if it will make no peace with thee, but will 
make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege 
it: 

And when the Lord thy God hath delivered it 
into thy hands, thou shalt smite every male 
thereof with the edge of the sword : 
But the women, and the little ones, and the cattle 
and all that is in the city, even all the spoil 
thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself; and thou 
shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which the 
Lord thy God hath given thee. 

Deut. XX. 15-17. Thus shalt thou do unto all of 
the cities which are very far off from thee, which 
are not of the cities of these nations. 
But of the cities of these people which the Lord 
thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou 
shalt save alive nothing that breatheth: But 
thou shalt utterly destroy them; as the Lord 
thy God hath commanded thee. 






The New Idea 71 

Ex. XXI. 20-25. And if a man smite his servant, 
or his maid, with a rod, and he die under his 
hand; he shall be surely punished. 
Notwithstanding, if he continue a day or two, 
he shall not be punished ; for he is his money. 
If men strive, and mischief follow; then thou 
shalt give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for 
tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for 
burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. 

Ex. XXII. 18. Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. 

We have here given a few of the common examples 
of injustice, which have been recorded by the 
unknown Biblical scribes. Examples of like injustice 
are to be found thruout the whole Bible, and are 
almost without number. 

It does not appear just to feed a stranger on old 
animals which have died of disease. Nor is it right 
to sell such meat to aliens. It does not appear that 
a just and perfect Creator would mix with such 
injustice. Nor does it appear right to accuse him 
of doing so. Justice is the same at all times and in 
all places ; and it is not just to let money to an alien 
at an usurious rate of interest. The propositions 
about diseased meat, and the usurious interest, when 
referred to the questions of Divine inspiration, or 
Divine origin, bear within themselves complete 



72 The New Idea 

evidence of their own falsity. The universal quality 
is completely absent, and the selfish, individual, or 
personal interest is in absolute control of the whole 
spirit of the writing. The scribes, whoever they may 
have been, who did the work, had in view nothing 
more than the selfish interests of themselves and a 
few other people. They had absolutely no regard for 
the happiness or common welfare of the great mass 
of the people. 



GOD TO FIGHT THE BATTLE. 

In the twentieth chapter of Deut. It does not 
appear that it would be just or right to declare peace 
unto a city, and if the peace should be accepted, to 
make slaves of the inhabitants. If the city should 
refuse to surrender and enter into slavery, it does not 
appear that it would be just to starve it into sur- 
render, and then kill all of the male inhabitants, rob, 
plunder, and despoil the city of its wealth, and carry 
all of the women and girl children into slavery, there 
to perpetrate upon them all of the horrors known to 
that institution. It does not appear that it would 
be just to treat in this manner all of the cities which 
are afar off. It does not appear that any cities, or 



The New Idea 73 

nations afar off were ever given to any other people 
as an inheritance. It does not appear that God, ever 
at any time either commanded or authorized one 
people to rob, plunder, murder, and enslave another. 
It would be unjust to do so, and God can do no 
injustice. Nobody knows who wrote the matter above 
referred to, but the scribes, whoever they were, who 
wrote it, knew at the time that they were writing 
what was not true ; they knew that they were charging 
God falsely. We conclude that the scribes knew that 
the story was false, because the ability to get up such 
a story carries with it evidence of the ability to know 
that the story was false. Selfish interest, the desire 
for personal, and national embellishment are in the 
forefront of the work. These interests clearly illus- 
trate and evidence the writing to be altogether of 
human origin. 

The scribes, who wrote the work, desired to rob, 
pillage, plunder, and enslave foreign people, which 
they could not do without getting up something to 
excite their own people. They, therefore, proceeded 
to tell the people that God had given them foreign 
nations for an inheritance; and had commanded 
them to overthrow, rob, pillage, plunder, murder, 
and enslave such people. It appears, further, that 
the immediate people of our Deuteronomian scribes 



74 The New Idea 

were not very fierce warriors, and .thus it came to 
pass that the scribes informed the people, that in 
their effort to rob, pillage, plunder, murder, and 
enslave the people of cities afar off they could afford 
to have great courage, and throw vile fear to the 
wind, because God, who had commanded that these 
things be done, would be in the front rank, and 
would fight all battles, and deliver the nations into 
their hands. 



TEACHINGS A POSITIVE DETRIMENT. 

The teachings above referred to are not only false, 
but they have been a prolific source of suffering to 
the human race. Nearly all of the great collective 
agonies of all of the ages have sprung from those 
and kindred, Bible, teachings. The proposition that 
God fights battles for his people, and delivers their 
enemies into their hands, supported the arm of the 
Greek soldier while he defended his favorite Delphi. 
Mahomet resorted to the same source to excite and 
enthuse his fanatical followers. The principle that 
God fights all battles for his followers, together with 
the other principle, that all people who hold other 
opinions are to be murdered, or stoned to death, 



The New Idea 75 

constitute the dangerous weapons which enabled 
Mahomet to lead his fanatical adherents to such great 
lengths in his war of extermination. The Catholics, 
also, imbibed the same spirit, and thus we have the 
long and bloody conflicts beween the Cross and the 
Crescent. The Crusades — sometimes miscalled holy 
wars of the dark ages, as the result of which millions 
of people lost their lives — were the direct or latent 
result of the principles above considered. 

The fierce, long, and bloody struggles between 
Catholics and Protestants, in which blood flowed like 
water, both in England and Europe, which include 
the terrors of the Spanish inquisition which resulted 
in the depopulation of villages, towns, cities, and 
kingdoms, are all traceable to the propositions that 
God fights his people's battles, and that it is right 
to stone to death the man or nation which may chance 
to have a different opinion. During the whole of all 
of the sanguinary conflicts each side was equally 
enthusiastic, each side was equally founded upon 
the above considered principles, each side was equally 
sincere, and each side conscientiously believed that 
it was right; but all of them were wrong, because 
their foundations were equally false. God fights no 
man's battles, nor has he ever authorized or com- 
manded anybody to stone people to death, who might 
differ in opinion, or on any other ground. The 



76 The New Idea 

world's advancement depends, and has always 
depended upon differences of opinion. Without it 
there would not have been, nor could there be any 
progress. 

Justinian, Constantine, and Charlemagne, all 
became inoculated with the ideas that God would 
fight battles, and that it was ordered from the 
Divine throne to kill all people who disagreed with 
them in opinion. Justinian immediately lent the 
whole strength and power of the Roman world to 
the squelching of all scientific and philosophical 
inquiry, and to the killing of all men of independent 
mind. Constantine gave the force of the empire 
to block all opposing discussion. Charlemagne on 
one occasion murdered four thousand five hundred 
men in cold blood, for no other reason than that 
they differed from him in opinion. By some means, 
not altogether evident, all of these men secured the 
title "Great." 

The spirit of the ages has long since denounced as 
false the contention, that it is right to rob, pillage, 
and enslave weak people, or stone to death those of 
opposing ideas. Yet all of the religious persecu- 
tions of all times find their origin here. 



The New Idea 77 

SELLING CHILDREN INTO SLAVERY. 

Many of the ancient nations claimed and exercised 
the right of parents to sell their daughters and sons 
into slavery, and especially was this true of the 
Roman government. Many of the ancient people, 
including the Eoman, claimed the right to take the 
life of their children for trivial reasons. And not 
only did they claim these rights, but they were incor- 
porated in, and became a part of the body of the 
Roman law. It would seem that the shrewd and 
penetrating Eoman intellect would have avoided such 
fatal errors; but it does not appear so strange when 
we refer to the XXI chapter of Exodus, and to the 
XII., 9, Deut., and find that there is a claim that 
they have an order from the Creator to sell their 
children into slavery or put them to death at will. 
All of this shows that the Bible was written by 
scribes who had inferior ideas of man's nature and 
moral duty, and that it was introduced to a rude 
and barbarous people. If a man should publish such 
ideas, in these times, he would be universally 
denounced as a fanatical degenerate, and if he 
should evidence a disposition to permanently establish 
his ideas, he would be restrained on the broad prin- 
ciple of public policy. Then, on what principle 
should the present times accept the degenerate ideas 



78 The New Idea 

of the barbarous ages? Since the Bible is filled 
with such degenerate and unholy teachings, by what 
rule of right should it be held up and hailed as the 
first book of the world, when we can obtain books 
which teach pure morality, and the way of true, just 
and proper life? Why ramble among the mouldy 
rubbish of the ignorant and selfish scribes of ancient 
days to find the true way of life ? The people of this 
age have more knowledge than any people who have 
gone before, then, why should not the people of the 
present age depend upon their intelligence to discover 
the true, just and proper way that life should be 
lived, and the true, just and proper laws which govern 
the true, just and proper life? On what principle 
should the brilliant, intellectual light of the twentieth 
century go back twenty-five hundred years and pick 
up the dim candle of those days to look for truth of 
any kind? The nations of the present time have 
outgrown the morality taught by the Bible scribes, 
and notwithstanding they claimed for their work the 
stamp of Divinity, they are now proceeding upon 
an higher, and nobler code of morality, and justice, 
than that outlined by the unknown scribes who wrote 
the Bible. And we, therefore, have no more of the 
Bible practice of feeding diseased meat to strangers, 
or the selling of it to aliens. All of the nations, 
except some few who are still in a barbarous con- 



The New Idea 79 

dition, and who still cling to the Bible idea, have 
abolished slavery. We no longer lend money to 
aliens at an usurious rateof interest. In these times 
none save barbarians take the lives of their children 
or sell them. No practical man of these times is 
looking to the heavens to provide for him, but he is 
depending upon his own efforts. He calculates that 
he is the architect of his own fortune. That he 
must obey the laws of his being, be reasonable and 
just in all things, and make his own way. The 
world might, and would have attained to its present 
state many centuries ago, if it had not been for the 
snuffing out of the light of the intellectual world 
during the fifth century, which threw the nations into 
that saturnalia of oppression, slavery, crime, blood, 
and murder, known in history as the dark ages. It 
is just and proper to charge all of the misery and 
suffering of those times to the teachings of the 
unknown scribes who wrote the Bible. The dark 
ages were the legitimate, the just and proper off- 
spring of the doctrines of the Biblical, scribes. 
Nearly every cruelty perpetrated during those fierce 
days is either ordered, sanctioned, or suggested by 
the teachings of the Bible. 



80 The New Idea 

THOU SHALT NOT SUFFER A WITCH TO 
LIVE. 

In obedience to the above injunction of the Bible, 
nearly an half million innocent persons were tor- 
tured to death, in England and on the Continent, 
during the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth cen- 
turies, on the charge that they were witches. It was 
charged that the witches had entered into an agree- 
ment with the devil, whereby they completely sur- 
rendered themselves into the hands of his satanic 
majesty, and in return the devil was to give them 
power to do almost anything they wished. 

The devil, according to the faith of the times, 
gave the witch power to assume all sorts of shapes, 
and to torture and punish their enemies or any one 
else, to their full content. The persons adjudged to 
be witches were in almost all cases burnt to death 
by slow fires. It was in those times that the witch- 
finders became so numerous, were in great demand, 
and received high salaries for their services. The 
witch theory has long since been exploded; and it 
is now considered that the assertion "Thou shalt 
not suffer a witch to live" was not the order of God, 
but that it was the invention of some fertile and cun- 
ning brain which desired a pretext or excuse for taking 
the lives of such persons as might become persona 



The New Idea 81 

non-gratiS; or in any way undesirable to the scribes 
who invented the work of the Bible. It is altogether 
probable, that during the course of human develop- 
ment, many millions of good people have been tor- 
tured to death by reason of this false invention of 
those fraudulent scribes. The world, by having out- 
grown these low and barbarous ideas, has put an end 
to this great affliction of the race of man. This sore 
evil was remedied by scientific and philosophical 
inquisition, which the same false and fraudulent 
scribes attempted eternally to prevent by their 
malicious and false statement concerning the tower 
of Babel. 



SHADRACH, MESHACH, ABEDNEGO, 
AND DANIEL INTER THE LIONS. 

From the above topics as described in the third 
and sixth chapters of the book of Daniel, we trace 
the cruel and barbarous practices of the middle ages. 
During which times, in obedience to the teachingss 
set forth in Daniel and thru faith in those teach- 
ings, it was believed that an innocent man would 
not be injured by fire, water or wild beasts. The 
result was that many innocent and good people were 



82 The New Idea 

driven into flaming furnaces, forced to walk bare- 
footed over red-hot plough-shares, were bound and 
thrown into rivers, or were torn to pieces by wild 
beasts. Under such ordeals life was quickly 
destroyed, after which the absolute guilt of such 
persons was declared. It is now understood, that 
the Biblical scribes invented these falsehoods for the 
purpose of giving strength and attractive qualities 
to the assertions which they made thruout their 
work. These assertions were made to a rude and 
barbarous people. Such people always prefer the 
mystic to the natural or common sense method. By 
long acquiescence, these assertions become to be 
adhered to without question. And in course of time 
it was declared to be most wicked to investigate 
them. This is the common course of the evolution of 
everything between the lids of the Bible No man 
would be brave enough to come forward with such 
falsehood and frauds in these times. And all who 
would accept such weak falsehoods would be 
denounced as fit subjects for the asylum for nervous 
diseases 



The New Idea 83 

THOU SHALT GIVE LIFE FOR LIFE, EYE 
FOR EYE, TOOTH FOR TOOTH, HAND 
FOR HAND, FOOT FOR FOOT. 

BURNING FOR BURNING, WOUND FOR 
WOUND, STRIPE FOR STRIPE. 

The false and bloody scribes, in the above declar- 
ation, laid the foundation upon which has been con- 
structed all of the cruel and inhuman Draconian 
codes of laws and systems of torture known to the 
ancient and modern world. Happily these systems 
of blood and torture have been repudiated, in large 
measure, which is the result of growth in intelli- 
gence and its consequent, morality. If the whole 
world was strictly following the Bible scribes, it 
would still contain a blank, barren and barbarous 
people. In the true and strict sense, no man can be 
an absolute adherent of all Bible teaching without 
being a barbarian. In these days there is only one 
in a thousand who believes, after investigation, in 
the Bible in the strict sense. The reason is that it 
contains many things which are false, wicked and 
imperfect; as well as much that is inconsistent, 
absurd, and contradictory; which evidences the fact 
that the whole book is the invention of false scribes. 



84 The New Idea 

PRIEST. 

We quote the following, viz: 

Lev. XXI. 16-21. And the Lord spake unto Moses, 
saying, Speak unto Aaron, saying, Whosoever 
be of thy seed in their generation that hath any 
blemish, let him not approach to offer the bread 
of his God: For whatsoever man he be that 
hath a blemish, he shall not approach; a blind 
man, or a lame, or he that hath a flat nose, or 
anything superfluous, Or a man that is broken- 
footed, or broken-handed, or crookbacked, or a 
dwarf, or that hath a blemish in his eye, or be 
scurvy or scabbed, or hath his stones broken, 
shalt not approach to offer the bread of his God. 

Deut. XXI. 5. And the priests the sons of Levi shall 
come near; for them the Lord thy God hath 
chosen to minister unto him, and to bless in the 
name of the Lord ; and by their word shall every 
controversy and every stroke be tried. 
In many other places, we find like admonitions, 

together with extensive directions for caring for the 

hair and beard of the priests, and the making of their 

clothes. 

But by what process are we to find out that God 

did in fact speak unto Moses saying? When, where 



The New Idea 85 

and under what circumstances, did God speak unto 
Moses saying? If God did in fact speak unto Moses, 
did Moses really understand him ? If he did under- 
stand him, did he deliver the message just as he 
received it? How long was it before Moses deliv- 
ered the message after receiving it ? When did he or 
any one else reduce it to writing? If God did in 
fact speak unto Moses, we were not parties to the 
conversation, then on what reasonable rule could we 
be bound by it? If God desired that Aaron should 
know certain things, why did he not communicate 
directly with Aaron, why would He send the message 
by the indirect route ? 

Why would not a man with a flat nose make just 
as good a priest as any one else ? On what principle 
of justice or common sense, is a man rendered 
unworthy because he may chance to wear a flat nose ? 
What right have we to charge, or believe that the 
God of the universe has common prejudices or is 
discriminating in matters of physical form ? In what 
way would matters be deranged if a priest should 
have a scab upon him ? What right have we to charge 
the Creator with taking note of scabs ? What would 
be the difference between a crookedbacked and a 
straight-backed man for priest? Why should we 
charge or believe that God would give orders, or take 
notice, concerning the hair, beard, or clothes of a 



86 The New Idea 

priest or any one else? What does the world care 
about Aaron or his beard ? It does not appear that 
God ever spoke unto Moses or any one else any more 
than he speaks thru nature to the world today. And 
if there was any possibility that God did at any time, 
for any purpose, speak unto Moses or any one else, 
it does not appear that such conversation would be 
binding or obligatory upon those who were not 
parties to the conference. The world did not con- 
stitute or appoint Moses or any one else its agent. 
And the world is not bound by anything that Moses 
said, did or heard, nor by the sayings, doings, or 
hearings of any one else. The world does not know 
and has no way of finding out whether such a man as 
Moses ever lived, much less whether he ever had a 
conversation with God. The world does not know 
and can not know whether Moses ever wrote a word. 
He signed no papers, and it is contended on all 
creditable sides that the Pentateuch, which is gener- 
ally accredited to him by the uninformed, is the work 
of many scribes who lived at periods very remote 
from each other. No one can carefully read the rise 
of the Biblical priesthood, without becoming con- 
vinced that the whole edifice is founded upon the 
selfishness of man. And that the whole structure was 
invented, and has been since fostered, by the cunning 
of the human intellect. The scribes who invented the 



The New Idea 87 

scheme desired to have controlling power and influ- 
ence in their family. The origin of this gigantic 
fraud was more rude than that which we find in the 
Bible. It had its birth, before the dawn of letters, in 
a rude and barbarous age. In such times, men who 
are more attentive to matters and things become wiser 
than their fellows. And in process of time are looked 
to for advice in matters and things. The advisers 
are not long in learning their power over their 
fellows, and in due course of time their selfishness 
prompts them to institute false and fraudulent cus- 
toms, that they may be able to use their fellow-man 
to their advantage. The whole priesthood has, from 
this original, changed, developed and evolutionized 
in accordance with the necessities of the times. It 
has made many changes, and has invented many 
schemes, all of which was done in an effort to con- 
tinue its existence. As the people have grown wise 
enough to discover its frauds in certain lines, it has 
repudiated those lines and has invented others which 
w T ere more agreeable to the growing intelligence. 
The original growth and development of the priest- 
hood is in itself a conclusive argument in support of 
the science of evolution, and is an equally potent 
and conclusive argument against the truth of the 
Bible. A consideration of Sacrifices, as decribed in 



88 The New Idea 

the Bible, will more than support all that Has Wn 
said about priests. 



SACRIFICES AND OFFERINGS. 

We quote the following, viz: 
Lev. VII. 7. As the sin offering is so is the trespass 
offering: there is one law for them: the priest 
that makes atonement therewith shall have it. 

Lev. VII. 31-38. And the priest shall burn the fat 
upon the altar: but the breast shall be Aaron's 
and his sons ! And the right shoulder shall ye 
give unto the priest for a heave offering of the 
sacrifices of your peace offering. 
He among the sons of Aaron, that offereth the 
blood of the peace offering, and the fat, shall 
have the right shoulder for his part. For the 
wave breast, and the heave shoulder have I 
taken of the children of Israel from off the sac- 
rifices of their peace offerings, and have given 
them unto Aaron, the priest, and unto his sons, 
by a statute forever. 

By statute, the XVIII chapter of Leviticus 
assigns to the priests the first and best of all things, 
including wheat, fruits, wine, and meats. 



The New Idea 89 

Lev. XVIII. 3-5. And this shall be the priests' due 
from the people, from them that offer a sacrifice, 
whether it be ox or sheep; and they shall give 
unto the priest the shoulder, and the two cheeks, 
and the maw. The first fruit also of thy corn, 
of thy wine, of thy oil, and the first fleece of thy 
sheep, shalt thou give him. For the Lord thy 
God hath chosen him out of thy tribes, to stand 
to minister in the name of the Lord, him and 
his sons forever. 

The priests instituted burnt-offerings, peace- offer- 
ings, sin-offerings, and trespass-offerings, there 
being a large proportion of all of the offerings turned 
over to the priests in consonance with an alleged 
Divine statute, which ordained that this should be 
continued forever. But, on what principle could 
God be pleased or influenced by inhaling the odor of 
burning meat ? Why would God order such proceed- 
ings, and by what rule of justice or common sense are 
we justified in believing that He ever did order such 
proceedings. It does not appear that God entered 
into a contract with Aaron or his sons, or with any 
one else, to provide them with meat, oil, wine, fleece, 
wheat, or any other substance. Wickedness can not 
be removed by the burning of meat or any other 
thing. It does not appear that God ever told any 



90 The New Idea 

person that sacrifices should be offered as a satis- 
faction for wicked deeds. Why should God interest 
himself concerning the food of a priest? Why would 
he ordain by statute, that the priests should have the 
two checks, the breast and the maw of all animals 
thruout all eternity ? Why would God confine all of 
the best meat to Aaron and his sons? 

The impartial observer, by reading the history of 
offerings and sacrifices, will at once discover that the 
whole fabric was nothing more or less than a clever 
and fraudulent scheme on the part of Aaron and his 
sons, if there were any such persons, to glut them- 
selves on the very best meat, wine, oil, fruit, wheat, 
and every thing in the country, and at the same time 
abstain from work. The priests of those times were 
evidently a lazy and gluttonous pack. This is proved 
by the fact that they ordained that the very best 
beef and mutton, oil and wine, should be brought to 
them on all sorts of false pretenses. From the num- 
ber of the offerings, it is clear, that there were at 
least two dozen cows and many gallons of wine deliv- 
ered to the priest daily. And if Aaron and his sons ate 
the maw, breast, and the right shoulder, and the two 
cheeks of all these cows, and then drank all of the 
wine that was brought, they must have been stiff with 
meat, and stupid with drink, habitually. Personal 
interest and individual selfishness are so plainly 



The New Idea 91 

obvious in all that pertains to the various sacrifices 
and offerings, that it is perfectly clear that the whole 
is of human origin. He who runs may read that the 
whole gigantic fraud was instituted, of, by, and for 
Aaron, the priest, and his sons. They wanted influ- 
ence, power, and the fat of the land, but being too 
lazy to work for them, they instituted these false- 
hoods and frauds about offerings and sacrifices. 
These sort of things bear within themselves the proof 
of their own fraudulent and false nature. They not 
only show that they are false, but they establish the 
fact that they were instituted at a time when man 
was in a fertile state of barbarism. With the growth 
of intelligence, all of these false assertions have been 
repudiated. The people no longer kill their best 
and fattest cows and turn them over for the priests 
to eat. They no longer adhere to the false assertion 
that the Creator was ever influenced by the odor of 
burning meat. The people think, now, that if they 
have more meat, corn, fleece, or any other substance, 
than they need, that the just thing to do is to give it 
to the aged, the sick, and needy. The morality of 
our times condemns as wicked the burning of such 
things as are calculated to relieve the needy and dis- 
tressed. It denounces as false all the assertions that 
God was ever influenced by the burning of meat or 
any other substance. These assertions are evidenced 



92 The New Idea 

by the fact that nothing is burnt unto the Lord in 
these days. 



HISTORY OF SACRIFICES AND 
OFFERINGS. 

Like the priesthood, the sacrifices and offerings 
find their origin in times long preceding written 
speech. Disease, pestilence, death, night, day, sum- 
mer, winter, wind, tide, rain, drouth, and all of the 
phenomena of the visible universe, all had a tendency 
to strike with awe and wonder the minds of those 
rude and barbarous people. Many of them thought 
that there were many gods who ruled over the various 
elements of nature, and that if they did not wish 
certain things to take place, they must appease, 
satisfy or get the good pleasure of the gods. They 
thought that they could get the influence of the gods 
by offering or presenting certain things to them. It 
must have been that they believed that the more they 
desired, or esteemed a thing, the more the gods 
desired to have it, and the better they would be 
pleased with it. It is on this score that we may 
account for the fact, that many barbarous people 
offer their own children as sacrifices unto the gods. 



The New Idea 93 

This was, evidently, among the earliest forms of 
sacrifices among all the people of antiquity. It 
appears, that during the dark period of the offering 
of human sacrifices, all parties connected with it were 
sincere. But in process of time the people grew wiser, 
and observed that no advantage accrued as the result 
of burning or in otherwise killing their children, 
and they demurred to the practice. It is at this 
time that some smooth man sees a chance to get meat 
and drink for nothing, and he immediately proclaims 
that he has a statute from heaven appointing him 
priest, and ordaining that human sacrifices are no 
longer needed, but that henceforth fine wine, wheat, 
mutton, fleece, oil, and fat cows will answer all pur- 
poses, provided the very best of all of these things 
are turned over to the priest for his portion. This 
new expedient held good for many centuries, during 
which time, without work, the priests had a great 
good time. They wore the best clothes, drank the best 
wine, and ate the best meat at the expense of their 
rude and barbarous brethren; The priests knew that 
their teachings were false. This is proved by the 
fact that all of the plans concerning offerings look to 
.nothing more than the securing of good, soft, easy 
jobs for the priests, together with all sorts of good 
things to eat and drink. And it is further proved by 
the fact that in their alleged, but false, statutes, from 



94 The New Idea 

God, they claimed the right to hold those fat jobs 
forever. In the process of time the people got tired 
of killing their finest cattle, and delivering all of 
their best goods to the priests, and they demurred 
to that. They could see no good that was being 
derived from it. In fact no one was getting any- 
thing out of it save Aaron and his sons or their 
successors. So the priest lost their meat, wine and 
other gifts. But Aaron and his sons were an invent- 
ive people, and they immediately bethought some 
scheme to continue in some measure the rich harvest 
that they had so long gathered at the expense of the 
rude and uncultured people. So they began to dream 
dreams and prophecy that one would come by the 
name of Christ, who would settle all things. They 
began to indicate that there were other things more 
pleasing to God than sacrifices and offerings, and 
Christ is charged with having said that to love God 
is more than all sacrifices. Thus in its noblest Char- 
acter, the Bible condemns and denounces as false all 
of its foundation. Sacrifices and offerings, have so 
evolutionized, that now, what was formerly a mother 
and father bearing their dearest child to the altar 
to be burned to appease and propitiate the gods, is 
only an easy and simple matter of coming forward 
to put a piece of money upon the table. In these 
times no man is even expected to kill up his cows and 



The New Idea 95 

give them to fatten Aaron and his sons or any one 
else. In these times each man either raises or buys 
his own meat. And the same might be said with equal 
truth concerning all necessities of life. We have 
reached the point when no man can influence people 
to unload all or any part of their goods for him to 
eat, on the pretext that he has a statute from God 
appointing him to a certain position, and command- 
ing that he be fed by the people. In these times, 
such a man would meet nothing but derision and 
contempt. 



DREAMS AND VISIONS. 

From the vision of Jacob, as set out in the 28th 
chapter of Genesis to the vision of John upon the 
Isle of Patmos, we find that the Bible is much mixed 
and made up of dreams and visions. It does not 
appear why God would act thru such unsubstantial, 
uncertain, doubtful and elusive things as dreams 
and visions. Why should eternal laws be commu- 
nicated to man thru dreams, and be undiscoverable, 
save thru that dream? Why are all of the most 
important matters in the Bible involved in dreams 
and visions ? If it contains the word of God, why is 



96 The New Idea 

it not plain, certain, and direct as found in nature's 
book ? How are we to know that any of the alleged 
dreamers ever lived? x\nd if they did in fact live, 
how are we to know but that their dreams were the 
result of over-eating, or of a deranged, or diseased 
system ? If the dreamers did in fact dream, why can 
their dreams be of more value than those of other 
people ? On what principle are we bound by dreamers 
and visionaries? How could a dream be binding on 
any one, who knows neither the dreamer, the dream 
or the reason for the dream ? Few things have done 
more to contribute to human suffering than false and 
fraudulent claims of inspired dreams. But the world 
has long since repudiated such things as dreams and 
visions. And, now, should a man claim to be a 
Divine dreamer or visionary, he would be hailed as a 
fanatic. Nobody gives any credence to dreams in 
these times, and but a very few have any regard for 
the alleged dreams and visions of antiquity. Dreams 
are natural conditions, and are the result of ante- 
ceding causes. All the dreams and visions of ancient 
celebrity had their origin in the necessity for some 
new scheme, on the part of the meat-eaters and wine- 
drinkers, to continue to delude and enslave the minds 
of the people. When the people refused longer to give 
their best cows and other goods for the Aarons to eat; 
then it was that the Aarons began to dream dreams 



The New Idea 97 

and see visions. And that is not at all strange, for 
any man will dream dreams and see all sorts of 
visions if things be so adjusted that he can get 
nothing to eat. They had dreams and visions for the 
same purpose that they invented the statute, which 
ordained that they should eat the best of everything 
and do no work. They purposed to blind, excite and 
lead the minds of the people to their own interest. 



MOSES. 

The Aarons, pursuing their common plan to delude 
the people, invented a mass of falsehoods concerning 
some person they called Moses. To give them 
strength and power, they have Moses involved in 
mystery almost from birth to death. The entire 
description from the basket of rushes to Mount Nebo, 
is pregnant with evidence of falsehood and fraud. 
One need not look beyond it for evidence that the 
whole story is a complete invention of the Aarons, 
who wanted to rule, live and eat and drink the best 
in the world without working for it. All the false- 
hood about Moses' rod turning into a serpent — the 
river turning to blood — the plague of frogs — the 
swarms of flies— the plague of the murrain among 



98 The New Idea 

the beasts — the rain of hail and fire — the plague of 
the locusts — the death of the firstborn — the pillar of 
cloud, and the pillar of fire — the drowning of the 
Egyptians in the Red Sea — Moses 5 forty days and 
nights in the mountain — the sending of the manna 
and quails from heaven — the burning bush — together 
with the general description of all of these, prove 
conclusively that the whole story is a false and fraud- 
ulent fabrication instiuted by the Aarons for their 
personal benefit. Why would God send frogs upon a 
man to get him to do right? To force man to do 
right, is to deprive him of his free moral agency. 
And while this is necessary among men, it is not the 
same with the Creator. He is equally the same 
whether man violates or obeys the laws of his being. 
Having given man knowledge and power to discover 
and obey the rules of life, the Creator gives himself 
no concern that man runs against the sharp corners 
of the law. Man may violate law all that he will, he 
will suffer for disobedience to law, but he will meet 
no rivers turned to blood, or any other of the many 
absurd things mentioned in the Bible, which the 
priests, Aaron and his sons, have invented and put 
into the mouth of some unknown man, wdiom they 
call Moses. God forces no man either by frogs or 
otherwise, to do right. No man can be forced to do 
morally right without changing his nature. Because 



The New Idea 99 

all true righteousness must be voluntary, and it 
appears that such only is worthy. 



THE PROPHETS. 

Like all of the other Biblical ideas, the prophetic 
opinion had its origin in a rude and barbarous age, 
among an uncultured people. There was little dif- 
ference between the priest and the prophet. They 
both developed in the same way, as the result of like 
circumstances. At first, prophecying was nothing 
more than a general discussion of grave subjects, and 
he who was the oldest and best informed on such 
subjects was regarded as general adviser, instructor 
or prophet. And such chief instructor, noting his 
influence and power over his ignorant contempo- 
raries, proceeded to prophecy such things as suited 
his interests and fancy. During the prophetic age, 
there were schools of prophecy for the training and 
instruction of such as wished to engage in the lucra- 
tive business of prophecying. At that time prophecy- 
ing was nothing more than a business or profession 
for profit, just like any of the businesses or profession 
of the present time. People entered the business of 
prophecying at different ages, and there was no claim 

LOFC, 



100 The New Idea 

that they were divinley inspired It was simply a 
matter of business, nothing more, and nothing less. 
There were thousands of men who lived and prophe- 
cied, but whose work has not been handed down to us, 
which is, in all probability, a grave misfortune, as 
they doubtless had some dream or saw some vision 
that we might have used to advantage. Yet it may 
be that we have enough of this sort. Still if we had 
a few thousand more and could get them well mixed 
nobody can say what might be gotten out of the 
whole. Notwitshtanding the unsubstantial nature of 
the origin of prophecy, everything prophetic, which 
the Bible contains is based upon this very foundation. 
Later in the growth of the prophetic spirit, it was 
discovered that something more than good sense was 
needed to hold the people. It was then that the 
prophets began to abuse themselves, to work them- 
selves into furious passions, claim that they were 
under the influence of the divine power, and in this 
condition they uttered what they alleged to be inspired 
prophecy. This sort of nonsense held sway over the 
minds of the people for many centuries, during 
which time the prophets reaped a rich harvest at the 
expense and detriment of the people. They prophe- 
sied all sorts of fraudulent and false prophecies, and 
their successors often practiced fraud to make it 
appear that former prophecies were fulfilled. They 



The New Idea 101 

made their own position more substantial and profit- 
able by thus practicing fraud. By making it appear 
that former prophecies had been fulfilled, they caused 
the ignorant and credulous people of the times to 
believe in all of their false assertions, and were thus 
enabled to live like the Aarons, upon the fat of the 
land, without work. As the people became more 
intelligent, the prophetic frauds and falsehoods 
were detected by the people, and the prophets 
awoke from their dreams and visions to find 
themselves without a job. It has now been 
many centuries since a prophet was in demand, and 
present indications are that no prophet will ever 
again be needed. All of this is discouraging to the 
prophet, but it means the salvation of the people. 
The world would have been better off to-day if no 
prophet had ever lived. No class of men have con- 
tributed so much to the sum total of human suffering 
as the dreaming, and vision seeing prophet for rev- 
enue only. Should a man arise in these times and 
claim that he was a Divinely inspired prophet, no 
one would give him any credence. And he would be 
denounced as a fraud and an imposter, or as a rant- 
ing fanatic. The one proposition which of itself 
is sufficient to establish fraud, is that the whole Bible 
is founded upon the dreaming and vision seeing 
prophet; and this is sufficient to authorize all men 



102 The New Idea 

to refuse to give airy of it credence. No prophet 
is entitled to credence, unless what he says is natural, 
reasonable and logical, and the same, with regard to 
all other assertions, is true. No man is justified in 
believing a man simply because he or some one else 
says that he is a prophet. Nor is any man justified 
in giving credence to any writing, dream or vision, 
simply because it is claimed that it was asserted that 
such writing, dream, or vision was of inspired or 
Divine origin. Man can find no justification beyond 
that which is natural, reasonable and logical. 



JONAH. 

In many places in the Bible, we find where it 
charges God wdth having threatened vengeance 
against man}^ nations and peoples. In the book of 
Jonah, it is charged that God threatened that he 
would destroy Nineveh on a certain day, but later 
changed his mind and failed to make good his 
promise. It does not appear that God would threaten 
any one with destruction, or in any way scare one 
into doing his duty. Nor does it appear that God 
would make any assertion to man about matters of 
conduct or anything else, further than what we find 



The New Idea 103 

unchangeable -in original law. God can not tell false- 
hoods, and man has no right to believe that he told 
one to the people of Nineveh. And why would God 
select the inside of a big fish as an appropriate place 
and means of transportation for his prophet? And 
why would He select an offensive gourd vine as a 
shelter for his prophet? And just as soon as the 
prophet got substantially located and pleased with 
his shelter, why would God disfurnish him thru the 
instrumentality of the cut worm ? On what principle 
are men justified in believing that God would be a 
party to such balderdash? The truth is, that some 
man claiming to be a prophet of the Lord, whose 
name may or may not have been Jonah, evidently 
appeared at the city of Nineveh, and declared that 
the Lord would destroy the city in a certain time, and 
when the time for the destruction of the city had 
passed and the people had discovered that the alleged 
Jonah was a fraud, and an imposter, and a diliberate 
falsifier, the alleged Jonah in order to escape the 
vengeance and wrath of the people, and to protect 
as much as he could his own reputation as a prophet, 
declared that the Lord had repented, or would not 
destroy the city, and must forever stand convicted of 
telling a falsehood. All of this was done by the false 
and fraudulent Jonah. This, however, does nothing 
more than to put Jonah strictly in line with all of 



104 The New Idea 

the other prophets mentioned in the Bible, among 
the long list of whom, Jonah may well be regarded 
as a model prophet and one among the best that ever 
lived. Jonah is also equally truthful with the others. 
If, while Jonah was in the internal of the whale, he 
had bethought himself of making a voyage around 
the world he might have anticipated Magellan by 
twenty-five centuries, and then, too, having made the 
voyage on the inside of the big fish, his position in 
history would have been most unique. But the 
sleepy Jonah, it appears, let all of these opportu- 
nities, for fame, slip. We can pardon Jonah for his 
falsehoods about the ship, the storm, the casting of 
lots, and about his trip to Nineveh inside of the 
big fish. Jonah may be forgiven for his deceptive, 
false, and fraudulent stories about the gourd and the 
cut-worm. But after the people caught him in his 
deliberate falsehoods, and he, in order to shield his 
wicked and corrupt nature, charged God with telling 
something that was not true, we take direct issue 
with him, and assert that not only Jonah, but the 
whole Book which enclosed such wicked matter should 
be relegated to the rear and given a back seat among 
the councils of human affairs. The Bible is filled 
with absurd stories which are no better than Jonah's 
fabrication. Samson, with his strength in his 
hair, with his three hundred foxes ; the tower of 



The New Idea 105 

Babel; the description of the creation; the creation 
and curse of woman; the fall of man; the flood; the 
sacrifices and offerings; the priests and sons of 
Aaron; Daniel, and hundreds of other stories are 
all on an equal level with the falsehoods found in 
the book of Jonah. 



aty? 5fow (HtBtmnmt 



THE FOUR GOSPELS. 

Four separate and distinct histories of Christ, by 
four undirected writers, each of whom professed to 
be an immediate follower of Christ, are not a very 
good omen of divinity. The four histories of the life 
of Christ, make the history of Christ an imperfect 
one. There was no necessity for four histories to be 
written by four brother disciples, then why were 
they written ? God w r ould not direct an imperfection, 
then who directed it? Why did not the disciples get 
together and by mutual aid write as nearly as possi- 
ble a correct history of the life of Christ, and then 
verify it by affidavit? In fact, w T hen, where, and 
by whom were the four gospels written? Nobody 
knows when, where, or by whom the books accred- 
ited to Mathew, Mark, Luke, and John, were written. 
Nobody signed a name to the books, and nobody 
announced when, where or by whom they were 
written. The four books, by whomsoever they may 
have been written, show that there was much rivalry 



108 The New Idea 

and dispute as to what Christ really said and did. 
None of the books agree with each other, and some of 
them are in direct conflict with each other. Some of 
them are evidently false, at least in part, and all of 
them are so in all probability. If the salvation of 
the world depended upon the words which Christ 
spoke, why did they not have a secretary along to 
record all that was said ? Why did not Christ direct 
that this be done, or why did he not write a book 
himself and thereby avoid the inconsistencies and 
contradictions found in the four gospels? And, if 
this was not agreeable, why were not the works made 
ready before Christ left the earth, so that he might 
have read and corrected and attested them? It 
appears, if the gospels are to have any credit, that 
Christ remained upon the earth for sometime even 
after he had been put to death. Yet the important 
matter of leaving a permanent record was wholly 
overlooked. And not only was this very important 
matter overlooked, at the time, but it appears that 
it was long after the death of Christ before these 
matters were taken into account, and then, it appears, 
that the gospels were scraped up, by the four writers, 
whoever they were, from conflicting and exaggerated 
tradition. The failure to make a permanent record 
at the time, and have it attested in a proper manner, 
is a fatal defect. The gospel writers, whoever they 



*The New Idea 109 

were, — and we speak in this wise because nobody 
knows when, where or by whom they were written — 
had no right to expect the generations, which were to 
follow, to believe those stories simply because they 
claimed that such stories were true. And if they did 
expect it, we have no right to fulfill their expectation, 
unless such stories are agreeable to reason, justice 
and common sense. The gospels are founded upon 
the prophets and when the prophets prove themselves 
to be false and fraudulent, then the gospels fall with 
their foundation. 



FAITH. 

The gospels contend that if a man has the faith 
of the weight of a grain of mustard-seed, and shall 
say unto a mountain be thou cast into the sea, it shall 
be done. But altho nearly twenty centuries have 
passed since the words were uttered, no mountain 
has yet been moved in this way. If this is a prac- 
tical way of moving mountains, the man who has 
the key might have all that the world contains. Be- 
cause, in the ordinary course of business many moun- 
tains are found to be in the way, and are moved at 
great expense. But after exhausting every expedient, 



HO The New Idea 

the world has learned that the only way to move a 
mountain, into the sea or anywhere else, is to get a 
pick and spade and go to shovelling dirt. Even the 
great Mahomet could not move a mountain in this 
way, altho it is contended that Mahomet was a greater 
prophet than Christ. And on the other hand, it is 
claimed that Mahomet stole all of his thunder from 
the Bible, which may be true. However, it is evident 
that Mahomet had a very sorry grade of thunder. 
This fatal blunder, found in the gospels concerning 
the moving of mountains without work, is in 
harmony and keeping with thousands of other blun- 
ders scattered thruout the whole Bible. 

"Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I build my 
church and the very gates of hell shall not prevail 
against it." 

It does not appear that a God would use the above 
language. It does not appear that a God would make 
threats and assertions about building a church. Why 
would God make threats about the gates of hell not 
prevailing against him or his church? The above 
statement charged to Christ, appears to be the rant- 
ing of some mortal who desired influence in some 
particular matter. 

"Peter, I give unto you the key of the kingdom of 
heaven, and whatsoever you loose upon earth shall 



The New Idea 111 

be loosed in heaven, and whatsoever you bind on 
earth shall be bound in heaven." 

The above quotation is also found in the gospels. 
But it does not appear, that Christ ever said any 
such thing to Peter or any one else. There was no 
necessity for such proceeding, and the whole propo- 
sition is saturated with human selfishness. The 
w T hole matter had its origin in the selfish desires of 
the scribes, whoever they were, to possess themselves 
of power and influence over the people. By persuad- 
ing the rude and barbarous people of the age, that 
they had the key to the kingdom of heaven, and that 
whatever they did on earth received the approbation 
of God, gave them great power among the people. 
The scribes, who did the writing, knew that the state- 
ment was false, but it was a part of their plan to 
continue to control the minds of the people. They 
contend, in the gospels, that they are to take neitheT 
purse nor script with them, that the laborer is worthy 
of his hire. And all of this is a continuation, in a 
somew T hat more civilized form, of the contentions of 
Aaron and his sons. The only difference between 
Peter and Aaron, is one of time and place, or degree, 
only. The growing intelligence of the people forced 
Peter and the rest of his crowd to take a more 
advanced position. Peter and his co-workers arrived 
too late to participate in the great free meat-eatings 



112 The New Idea 

which inflated the persons of Aaron and his sons. 
Peter and his co-workers had no statute from heaven, 
so they got hold of the key to the whole matter. 

It appears, however, that Peter and his friends had 
the advantage of Aaron, because, while Aaron secured 
a statute which guaranteed him free beef and wine as 
long as he should live, yet Peter and his friends got 
the key to the whole store-house. Few things about 
the Bible are more absurd than the story concerning 
the key to the Kingdom. 



"HE THAT BELIEVETH IN ME THO* HE 

WERE DEAD YET SHALL HE LIVE 

AGAIN." 

It does not appear that a God would be around 
requesting people to believe in him. Nor does it 
appear that any one can in any way succeed by simply 
believing. On no principle known to the human 
mind, is there any truth in the above quotation, and 
the Creator of the universe has made no such declar- 
ation. Like the grain of mustard-seed, and the 
moving of mountains into seas, the above is a false 
and fraudulent invention of the scribes. Man's sal- 
vation depends upon his doing his duty, in the light 



The New Idea 113 

of the laws of his being, and not upon believing. It 
is now time, that man should stop pursuing the 
absurd and the mystical, and get down to the just, 
the reasonable, and the practical. Man may as well 
begin to work here on earth, with what he has; he 
will eventually do so, and the sooner the better. The 
heavens will not further aid him here. 



PRAYER. 

The four gospels teach the doctrine of prayer, and 
this alone is sufficient to consign them to oblivion. 
The doctrine of prayer is based upon the principle 
of getting something for nothing, which is disputed 
by everything in the universe. Thru the instru- 
mentality of prayer, faith, and hope, no mountains 
can be moved, nor can anything tangible be accom- 
plished ; and the man who depends upon them will in 
all cases reap a harvest of disappointments. Nothing 
can be obtained save by good, honest and patent work, 
and the salvation of man is based upon these. If the 
gospels were true, the man who was or might be 
master of faith, hope and prayer would be, in a large 
sense superior to God himself. Because, it appears 
that then, God's chief office would be to do what the 



114 The New Idea 

man of prayer should request. The gospels would make 
a figurehead of the Creator, and would make the pray- 
ing man the power behind the throne. Then, the 
Creator, according to the gospels, would have little 
or nothing to do save putting in force the orders of 
the praying man. Under the prayer idea of the gos- 
pels, men would be come the rulers of all of nature's 
works, and the possessors of all of her most subtle 
secrets. With his dictation, he would not be bound 
to earth, but might proceed to dictate the grade of 
gold with which the streets of heaven should be 
paved. He might go further and give special 
orders as to the class of sweet milk, honey, or wine 
that should be used there! or he might demand 
a different grade of silver slippers, golden crowns, 
long white robes, golden harps, seas of glass; or he 
might demand a change or dispensation of all of the 
paraphernalia of heaven ; and if the gospels are true, 
the prayer, faith and hope man could secure all 
of this, and thus derange both heaven and earth. 
Those who profess to follow the prayer doctrine are 
eternally involving themselves in contradictions. 
They do not believe the very doctrine that they pro- 
fess to follow. They pray the same prayer over and 
over again, sometimes as much as three times per day. 
If the prayer will be granted 1 why pray it over again ? 
Do they think that God may have been asleep and 



The New Idea 115 

may not have heard them ; or that he heard, but may 
have forgotten them? On what principle has man 
the right to believe that the Creator would suspend 
the laws of nature for his benefit? If the Creator 
was of a disposition to advance something to man, 
why would he wait for man to beg him for it ? What 
right has man to imagine the God of the universe to 
be upon a level with motals, by thus ascribing 
human passions to him ? The gospels assert that God 
is willing to grant favors to man, but that he will 
not do so unless man prays mightily. This alone is 
enough to stamp them as false. 

One of man's chief errors has been his disposition 
to gaze into the heavens for that aid which he should 
have dug and must dig out of the earth. The 
heavens have been lavish with man, and have given 
him abundantly of all that is essential to his comfort, 
welfare and happiness thru all eternity. Man is in 
need of nothing more than is within his own reach. 
He may be comfortable, or not, it all depends upon 
himself. He has all material essential to his mate- 
rial and immaterial salvation, and it is all a question 
as to whether or not he will take advantage of his 
opportunities. Everything proceeds in consonance 
with natural law, and the prayers of man will not 
avail to alter them, and man's happiness depends 
upon his discovering and obeying those laws. The 



116 The New Idea 

laws of nature constitute the Divine Code by which 
man is at all times, morally, bound, and he who 
violates them must suffer, and it is equally the same 
without regard to how much he may pray, or what 
faith and hope his prayers may contain. All of the 
falsehoods, concerning grains of mustard-seed, and 
the dumping of mountains into seas, to the contrary 
notwithstanding, he who violates these laws must 
suffer. It does not appear that God will do any 
more for man than his wise, just, beneficent provi- 
dence has already provided. And the science of 
evolution is a solid argument in favor of this con- 
tention, and at the same time it makes war upon 
Jonah and all of the rest of the prophetic school. 



PRAYER A DELUSION. 

When man has faith in any proposition he is 
impressed in a certain manner. The impression 
which he has does not depend upon such matters, 
as whether or not the proposition is true or false. 
It depends upon the faith which he has in the propo- 
sition. A man lives in London, and has a son living 
in Paris, and learns thru a friend from Paris that 
that city has been destroyed by an earthquake, and 



The New Idea 117 

that his son has perished with it. The London man, 
being a very aged gentleman, and very fond of his 
son, grieves and dies, as a result of being so unexpect- 
edly deprived of his favorite son. A few days after 
the death of the old man it develops that his son is 
still alive, having escaped the wreck uninjured. The 
old man died as a result of a false impression. It 
was false; yet to him it was so true that he died as 
the result of it. This was only one of the delusions 
so common to the human race. The world contains, 
to-day, millions of people who are as strong as death 
in faiths that are false. The praying man has faith 
in his doctrines, he believes that God will hear and 
answer prayer, he has thought in this way so much 
that he feels that there is no question about it. Such 
a man then proceeds to pray, and the union of the 
faith and the prayer gives him the sweet satisfaction 
which he observes. The pleasant feeling is the result 
of the faith and prayer alone, the Creator not regard- 
ing it in any way, and it is nothing more or less than 
a delusion. The praying man, and the man who dies 
upon the false report of his son's death, are governed 
by the same principle, and act upon the same basis*. 
Thus daily among men, we find people who are thus 
deluded. 

The fact, that the praying man has absolute faith 
in his course, in the Bible, and in prayer, proves 



118 "The New Idea 

nothing. All of the millions who follow Mahomet 
are equally strong in their convictions. All of the 
wreck and ruin of the holy wars of the middle ages 
was the result of absolute faith in the abnormal. 
There is no smooth sailing, except upon natural seas ; 
and every time man mixes with the unnatural, the 
unreasonable, or the mystic, he is sure to suffer. We 
call the history of mankind as witness to these 
assertions. 



REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS. 

The four gospels — and in fact the Bible thruout — 
are interspersed with offers of reward and threats of 
punishment. If the Bible is to be credited, the 
Creator has openly solicited men to do certain things, 
and has offered a standing reward to those who will 
comply with his solicitations, and has threatened dire 
vengeance against those who fail to comply. It does 
not appear that God would solicit people to do their 
duty, nor can it be imagined that He would take the 
field and offer rewards to that end. Because, in this 
way He would observe no truly righteous conduct. 
The man who pursues a righteous course of conduct 
because he wants salvation, or because he is afraid 






The New Idea 119 

that if he does otherwise he will be punished, is not 
a good man at all, and thruout all of the world 0/ 
nature there is no evidence that God would either 
want or accept such righteousness. The only true 
righteousness ,'cinsists in the persistent following 
of that reasonable, just, true and righteous course 
of conduct, which is commanded by the primary law 
of nature. And true righteousness demands not only 
that this course of conduct be pursued, but that it 
be done for its own sake without regard for rewards 
or punishments. And man cannot excuse himself 
for being misled as to his conduct, for the beneficent 
Creator has planted the law of his life within his 
own breast. 



THE DEVIL AND HELL. 

It is claimed that the devil was in heaven, and that 
he made war there, and was dislodged, only, after 
considerable difficulty. It is also claimed that in 
making his exit from heaven, the devil drew down 
a third part of the angels with his tail. It does not 
appear just what sort of a tail the devil had. ISTor is 
it evident just how many angels he drew down with 
his tail. It is, perhaps, unfortunate for the world 



120 The New Idea 

that the Biblical scribes did not tell us exactly how 
many angels the devil really drew down with his 
tail. If we knew how many angels constituted the 
third, above mentioned, we would then have no diffi- 
culty in ascertaining the total number of angels 
that existed at the time of the big fight, which the 
Bible says took place in heaven. But, however, this 
be, what was the devil doing in heaven? Where did 
he come from? Could not God expel him without 
losing the heavenly hosts? If the devil got a third 
of the heavenly family by using his tail only, what 
might he not have done, if he had decided to employ 
his hands, feet, teeth and tail all at the same time? 
It appears that under those circumstances he would 
have been able to have made short work of the whole 
heavenly crew. The Bible claims that that wonderful 
devil now has charge of hell, and it indicates that he 
is absolute boss in those infernal regions. It is not 
stated just where hell is located, or how the devil 
spends his time. But it is indicated that the devil 
occupies his time chiefly with arranging things so as 
to make it warm for visitors. It is not known how or 
by whom hell was made. But the Bible indicates that 
it was prepared for the devil and his angels, but it 
is not known whether or not those angels which the 
devil kidnapped from heaven, are in hell with him. 
The devil and hell, his ancient habitation, are so 



The New Idea 121 

mixed and mingled with the Bible, that they cannot 
be dispensed with without destroying the Bible 
itself. But upon what principle can the devil idea be 
believed, when the Bible asserts that he had a fight 
with God? What right did the Biblical writers have 
to charge the Creator with entering into personal 
quarrels, disputes, and fights with devils? Who is 
the devil that he could call for the personal attention 
of Omnipotence? Why would Omnipotence admit 
anything to his presence, and then engage in a quarrel 
and fight with it ? And how would God look fighting 
the devil ? The ideas, both of the devil and hell, have 
long since been repudiated by all of the leading 
ministers thruout Christendom. They denounce both 
the devil and hell, as described by the Bible, to be 
deliberate falsehoods. And while they thus charge 
that the Bible is filled with falsehoods, they still cling 
to certain parts of it, and as a matter of fact, certain 
parts of it are valuable for all times. 



ORIGIN OF THE DEVIL IDEA. 

The idea of a deviPs existence, like all of the other 
ideas which are contrary to good sense and depend 
upon miracles and mysteries, finds its origin among 



122 The New Idea 

a rude and unlettered people. From the natural 
course of things, the barbarians concluded that there 
were good and evil spirits or powers, which perpetu- 
ally worked in opposition to each other. It has been 
from these peculiar ideas of barbarians that has been 
evolved the devil idea, which the Bible claims has 
done so much damage with his tail. 

In Greek mythology, it is claimed that Jupiter, 
the supreme god of Olympus, had a ten years' war 
with the Titans. It appears that the Titans desired 
to dispossess the great Olympian god, and boss the 
world themselves. To hold his position, Jove was 
forced to exhaust every resource at his command. 
And it appears that he released the Cyclopes from 
Tartarus — to the end that they should supply him 
with thunder bolts, which were the chief weapons of 
the Olympian god. Eventually, thru the power of 
the. thunderbolts, Jove subdued the Titans, and 
hurled most of them into Tartarus, where they were 
securely bound, so as to give no further trouble. 

It seems that the unknown scribes, who wrote the 
Bible, were acquainted with the Greek myth, when 
they wrote about the devil being in heaven and his 
fight with God. They evidently stole the whole 
falsehood from the Greek mythology. 'There is but 
a small difference between the description of the 
fight of Jove with the Titans, upon Mount Olympus, 



The New Idea 123 

and the fight, charged, between God and the devil in 
heaven. About the only difference is the fact that the 
Olympian god was able to whip the Titans and at 
the same time preserve everything upon Olympus, 
he did not permit them to drag off a third or any 
other part of his crew with their tails or otherwise. 
And there is one other difference, which is that sthe god 
of Olympus had to fight a whole family of Titans, 
while, the Bible contends, God was confronted by but 
one devil at the time. In this view, it is little 
wonder that all of the able divines have long since 
repudiated the opinions about the devil and hell. For 
there would be no conceivable use for a hell without 
a devil. So it is in this way that the hell and devil 
opinions pass off into air, into thin air, and the 
prayer idea goes by the same route. 



CHRIST. 

That the man Christ was noble, and that he made 
a profound impression upon the people of his time, 
we think that there is no question. He evidently 
taught a pure morality, devoted his life to one idea, 
and that the betterment of the human race. But it 
does not appear that he was the son of God any more 



124 The New Idea 

than any other man is the son of God. His work 
upon earth does not evidence him to have been the 
son of God. And it is not at all probable that he 
claimed that he was the son of God, any more than 
other people. If he did his life and work did not 
bear out his claim. 



THE WISDOM OF CHRIST. 

The teachings attributed to Christ do not indicate 
that he was any wiser than men who had lived many 
centuries before his time. All of the beautiful ethical 
teachings mentioned in the four gospels had been 
published by many philosophers long before the birth 
of Christ. The discovery of America, the invention 
of the printing press, the steam engine, the cotton 
gin, the various instruments of navigation, the tele- 
graph, the telephone, wireless telegraphy, the tele- 
scope, and the development of the various sciences 
have done more than anything else to better the con- 
dition of man. By these things all material welfare 
has been advanced in a measure beyond description. 
Were it not for these things the world would be where 
it was during the middle ages. When Christ lived, 
none of these things were known. All material devel- 



The New Idea 125 

opment depends upon them. And without material 
welfare, there can be no moral, intellectual or 
spiritual advancement. Why then did not Christ 
teach these things to the people ? He evidently tried 
to improve the moral and spiritual condition of the 
people, but a God would have known that in order 
to do so he would first have to improve the material 
and social welfare of the people. Christ said nothing 
about these diseoverieSj inventions, or developments 
of the sciences, altho they were unknown at the time. 
And the only just conclusion is that he knew nothing 
about them. If he knew of them and refused to 
instruct the people, he then puts himself in the atti- 
tude of retarding the very things which he appeared 
to desire develop among the people. What would be 
the logic in instructing in -a line of doctrines, and 
then failing to instruct in those principles which are 
absolutely indispensable to the following of those doc- 
trines ? There is no just way of escaping the conclu- 
sion that Christ knew nothing about the invaluable 
discoveries and inventions, which have been brought to 
light since his day, and which have done so much to 
increase human happiness, and make men better. 



126 The New Idea 

JESUS. 

We find that there was nothing in the knowledge 
of Christ to indicate that he ranked with Omnipo- 
tence, and inquiry will show that there was nothing 
distinguishing about his name. The name Jesus was 
common among the Jews at the time of Christ, and 
many children bore the name of Jesus. The name, 
Christ, seems to have been a subsequent addition, 
made by scribes, who evidently made many additions 
to his teachings also. 



THE DEATH OF CHRIST. 

Putting people to death by means of the cross, 
was a form of punishment common among the ancient 
Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, and nearly all of the 
ancient nations, up to and long after the death of 
Christ. Therefore, the fact that Christ was put to 
death in this wise, does not, by any means, indicate 
that he was anything more than an ordinary man. 
Altho his teachings indicate that he was a great, good 
man, and for his time, he was evidently a wise man. 



The New Idea 127 

THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST. 

It is claimed that Christ rose from the dead 
and appeared unto certain of his disciples. 
But why did not Christ 'appear unto the multi- 
tude? Why did he not come before the people 
and preach to them and show them that his 
physical form was really superior to death? Why 
did he not thus forever put a stop to all future con- 
troversy? Why would God slip and dodge around 
and appear unto a few people only ? It appears that 
there. is fraud in this and that we find here a desire 
on the part of the scribes of the times to make good 
the ancient prophecies. Christ was a great and a 
good man, but his life and work, are evidence of the 
fact, that all of the stories about the miraculous con- 
ception, birth, the visit of the wise men, the shepherds 
and the stars, the colloquy with the doctors of the 
law, the restoring of withered hands, the feeding of 
the multitudes upon five loaves and two fishes, the 
raising of the dead, the walking upon the water, the 
fasting forty days and nights, the getting of money 
out of the fish to pay Caesar, the giving of the key 
to Peter, the turning of the water to wine, are all a 
part of the trappings and paraphernalia which were 
added to Christ after his death, by the scribes of the 
times. The resurrection and ascension were also the 



128 The New Idea 

invention of the scribes of that period. Christ had 
made a great record, and the scribes evidently 
thought that by making it appear that Christ was of 
divine origin, getting the key, and making a pre- 
tense at following his teachings, they would have 
power for many ages. And their falsehoods have had 
some success, in the direction that they had planned. 
But that the whole matter concerning everything su- 
pernatural attributed to Christ is of human invention, 
is evidenced by all of the history of the Christian 
doctrines. At this time there are many denomina- 
tions, directly in conflict with each other, and all 
claiming to be the true followers of Christ. This is 
proof of defects in the original teachings. There is 
no difference of opinion upon the proposition that 
two and two are four, and the laws and works of the 
Creator are equally clear, and can not be misunder- 
stood, when inquired into. The further we get from 
the birth of Christ the greater is the confusion as 
to his alleged doctrines. A God would be able to 
unify, harmonize and leave things in order. He would 
leave things so plain that they could not be mis- 
understood. This universal confusion is evidence 
that the whole Bible is of human invention. The 
reason that the world does not unite upon the doc- 
trines of the Bible is because its teachings deal in 
mysteries, miracles, and supernatural propositions. 



The New Idea 129 

The natural, the reasonable, the logical, the common- 
sense and the practical are destined to sway the 
human race, and all mysteries, all miracles, and all 
supernatural pretensions, let them struggle all they 
may, will be forced to take a back seat. The doctrines 
of Christ have had great opportunities. They have 
been fostered by states, empires, and kingdoms. 
They have been taught to children from infancy to 
manhood. And yet the cultured young people do not 
strictly regard them, not on the ground that they 
do not contain many beautiful statements, but 
because that on the whole they do not appeal to 
intelligence and progress. To announce that there 
will be a Bible reading, is like announcing that there 
will be a funeral. The only difference will consist 
in the fact that there will be a larger number of peo- 
ple at the funeral. Nobody, except a few old people, 
who have nowhere to go and nothing to do, will be at 
the Bible reading, and they will tell you that they 
thought that they would hobble out to see if it w T ould 
not help their rheumatism. Many men have Bibles 
which they do not read. All of this is proof that the 
contents of the Bible is not what the prophets and 
scribes claim for it. If Christ had been what is 
claimed for him, and had done all that is attributed 
to him, these things would never be. 



130 The New Idea 

ARIANISM AND ORIGENISM. 

The history, of Arianism and Origenism, proves, 
that until late in the fourth century after Christ, 
his origin was a much disputed question. It was con- 
tended by the Arians that Christ was only a great 
man, and that he was not the son of God at all. The 
Arians, at that time, constituted one-half, and some- 
times more, of the Christian world. And on many 
occasions the Arians grew so strong that they consti- 
tuted the civil authority in the Eoman empire. They 
were followers of the teachings of Christ, but they 
only regarded him as a good man, and as an instructor 
in high class morality. The Arians flourished and 
grew until their opponents, who had contended that 
Christ was the son of God, in manner differing from 
other men, got in possession of the civil power of 
Eome, condemned and denounced the Arians in the 
Council of Mcaca, forever borbade the Arians to 
further promulgate their doctrines, and later put 
down the Arians at the point of the sword. But the 
opinions of the Arians have never died and still 
have a strong following, altho much of that following 
is quiet, owing to the open and fierce antagonism of 
the opposite opinion. We might say nearly the same 
concerning Origenism. The question is, why did this 
sharp division, and fierce antagonism, immediately 






The New Idea 131 

following the death of Christ, exist within the family 
of Christian workers, and that, too, upon the most 
cardinal point of the Christian doctrine? Why was 
it necessary to shut off discussion on these points at 
the point of the sword ? Why should an ecclesiastical 
Council make a law declaring that Christ was the son 
of God, and ordaining that he who asserted the con- 
trary should be put to death or forced into exile. If 
Christ was not the son of God, could he be made so by 
the declaration of a number of ecclesiastics ? Would 
not God be able to establish himself in the world, if 
he so desired, without the use of the sword? If God 
should see fit to come before man, in visible form, and 
promulgate and defend any doctrine, is there any 
question but that he would unify, harmonize, and 
settle, forever, all question concerning his contention ? 
But can it be imagined that God would do so, either 
in person, or by agent? With an omnipotent God, 
what would be the reason or necessity for such a 
course of proceedings? Upon what principle are 
men justified in believing that the Great and Omip- 
otent God, Creator and Ruler of the universe, has 
any part or connection with the nonsense, injustice 
and falsehoods of which the Bible is largely com- 
posed? The history of Arianism establishes the fact 
that the followers of Christ have never agreed as to 



132 The New Idea 

whether or not Christ was a God or a man, but that 
they have often been equally divided upon those 
questions. It is therefore admitted that there is 
room for all sorts of difference of opinion upon those 
questions, and that there is even room for the opinion 
that there is even no soild value or truth at all at the 
basis or foundation of the question. 



FATHER, SON, AND HOLY GHOST, ALL 
IN ONE. 

It is not known, at this time, what rules of mathe- 
matics the ancient scribes, and ecclesiastics, employed 
to solve the above problem. It appears that their 
method of arriving at mathematical conclusions, has 
been lost forever. It does not appear, why they would 
want to get three into one. Nor is it evident, how 
they could so. In the present physical, and mathe- 
matical worlds, such a proposition is impossible. 
Then, how did the fathers do it? It appears that 
there is no use, reason or necessity, for three to be 
one, or to be so considered. The story about the 
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, all being one, is indeed 
a monstrous story. And it does not appear which is 
the most monstrous, the story about the creation and 



The New Idea 133 

fall of man, the one about the confusion of tongues, 
the one about the flood, the one about the Divine 
statute comanding the people to forever feed the 
priests on the best meat, the one about the voyage 
in the big fish, the one about the big fight between 
God and the devil, the one about the immaculate 
conception and life of Christ, or the one about the 
three gods being in one and, still, being three at 
the same time. 

The history of Arianism and Origenism will show 
that the followers of Christ were never agreed upon 
the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost combination. And 
that this combination was of equal contention with 
the question of the origin of Christ. And that the 
contentions about Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, were 
also settled by a law promulgated by an ecclesiastical 
Council, and clinched by the swords of Rome. 



THE ACCUSATIONS OF THE BIBLE 
AGAINST THE CREATOR. 

According to the Bible, God made man and placed 
him in a beautiful garden so that He might have the 
opportunity of expelling him from it. The Bible 
either charges this, or it accuses God of not knowing 



134 The New Idea 

what man would do, and with being ignorant of His 
own future conduct. It charges that God visited and 
watched after man so as to be posted as to human 
conduct and conditions; and it charges Him with 
being afraid that man would grow wise and powerful 
and eventually attain the position where even the God 
himself could not restrain him when he should choose 
to act. And to avoid the danger of man surpassing 
Him, it is charged that God confused the languages 
of the rude primeval people. It charges that God 
possesses all sorts of human passions, that he was 
grieved because he had made man, that He sent a man 
to preach to man, that man refused to hear the 
preacher, and that this refusal made God mad and 
resulted in His destroying the world with water. It- 
charges God with making unjust laws and with 
teaching and supporting injustice. It charges God 
with telling falsehoods. It charges that God was not 
always Omnipotent, and that he did not know 
whether or not He would be able to provide a way for 
man's salvation. The Bible claims that God went 
all over heaven and earth, and all over hell in an 
effort to find somebody that could save the world, 
and that it was by a lucky chance that, after a long 
and tedious search, He succeeded in finding some- 
one who was able to do the work. That if God had 
failed to have found a particular man all would have 



The New Idea 135 

been lost forever. The Bible charges that up to the 
discovery of this particular man, who alone was able 
to save the world, the human family had been so 
constructed that no man could be saved: It thus 
charges that God made man without providence, judg- 
ment or forethought. It charges God with fighting 
devils and that He was in some measure defeated by 
them. It charges Him with having favorites among 
the people. It charges that God ordered many sense- 
less and unjust rules and regulations. It charges that 
at man's earnest request He will change his course 
of conduct. It charges that God is influenced by the 
earnest sighs, graons, and prayers of man. He is 
charged with knowing the needs of man, and with 
being both willing and able to grant the need ; but it 
is charged that He absolutely refuses to grant the 
need unless it be prayed for. It is charged that 
nothing could mend the law save the suffering, blood 
and death of His own son. 

It appears that these charges are all false, that they 
are sufficient to prove the absurdity of the chief 
religious opinion of the modern world, and that they 
are equal to the task of relegating the whole Bible to 
the plane of legendary literature. We shall now 
proceed to a consideration of fables, myths, false 
traditions and exaggerated history, as they relate to 
the sacred literature of the ancient Jews. 



136 The New Idea 

FABLES, MYTHS, FALSE TRADITION'S 
AND EXAGGERATED HISTORY. 

Vast geological periods of time have intervened 
between primeval man and the present human state. 
During the course of these long ages, in which man 
developed by slow and painful degrees, each division 
of people made an effort to solve the problem of 
universal existence. And, thus, we find, among all 
ancient nations, theories or parts of theories, either 
written or traditional, which attempt to account for 
the existence of all things. These theories, existing 
at first as mere individual opinion, in the course of 
time became general, and were eventually made the 
basis of religious opinion. That the universe exists, 
as the result of the effort of some superior power, 
was an opinion common to all ancient nations. By 
the different nations, the creative power was attrib- 
uted to various elements, powers and conditions of 
nature; and these powers naturally became objects 
of worship. And, thus, all nations have worshiped 
the sun, moon, stars, fire, and many other elements. 
It was a common feeling among ancient people, that, 
in return for favors of light and heat, they should be 
grateful to the sun and other luminaries of the 
heavens. They believed that their gods could be 
influenced by sacrifices, and in an effort to avoid the 



The New Idea 137 

suffering common to their rude state they offered 
their own children as sacrifices to their gods. It was 
upon such a foundation as this that the mythology, 
of ancient Greece and Kome, was built; and it was 
from such a foundation that the Bible was developed. 

The Greek mythology, the Bible and the Roman 
mythology constitute the culmination of the mytho- 
logical age; and all of them are founded upon the 
opinion of a rude barbarian people, who had grown 
ancient long before the days of Homer, Confucius, 
Buddha, Brahma or the legendary Moses. And, thus 
it is that the Bible is merely a general record — in an 
exaggerated form — of the rude conceptions of a 
primeval people. 

And the awkward creation of man and woman, the 
unnatural conditions connected with the description 
of the fall of both, the contradiction about Cain and 
Abel, the impossible fables about the tower of Babel 
and the Flood, the false traditions that the wrath of 
God could be appeased by offering him blood and 
meat, the hundreds of fables and false traditions 
concerning the life of Moses, the hundreds and 
hundreds of exaggerated and fabulous statements 
concerning the wars of Joshua and all of the other 
military engagements thruout the Bible, the fables 
concerning the destruction of cities by fire from 
heaven, the legendary Samson and all the fables 



138 The New Idea 

concerning his life„ the exaggerated history of Christ, 
the fables and false traditions about the devil and 
hell, and all of the legendary book of Revelation com- 
bined make the Bible the chief among the books of 
fables, myths, false traditions and exaggerated his- 
tory. 

And when the subject-matter of the Bible proves 
that it belongs in the list of legendary books, it also 
proves that there is no foundation to the chief 
religious opinion of the modern world. 



JUN 4 1907 



